Mortgage rates continued their descent on Thursday, dropping another 4 basis points after Wednesday's plunge on the heels of the most recent inflation report. The 30-year mortgage rate average was 6.77% on Thursday, the lowest rate since the end of March. Averages for the majority of all other new purchase mortgage types fell.

Because rates vary widely across lenders, it's always smart to shop around for 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:your best mortgage option and compare rat𒅌es regularly, no🐲 matter the type of home loan you seek.

Today's Mortgage Rate Averages: New Purchase

Today's 30-year average mortgage rate is 6.77%, down 4 basis points from the day before. This drop comes just a day after rates fell 18 basis points on the heels of 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Wednesday's release of t🐈he latest Consumer Pr🌳ice Index. The flagship average is now the lowest it's been since March 29, when it was 6.69%.

Rates on 30-year mortgages are still elevated compared to early February, when the average plummeted to 6.36%. But today's rates are far below the historic 23-year high of 8.01% we saw in October.

New purchase 15-year rates also saw a drop on Thursday, sinking another 9 basis points to land at 5.87%. This drop comes after the 15-year rate lost almost a quarter percentage point on Wednesday, dipping below the 6% threshold for the first time in four weeks. The 15-year average is well under last fall's 7.08% peak—the highest level registered since 2000.

Jumbo 30-year rates meanwhile edged down just 1 basis point on Thursday to 6.96%. While the movement was small, the jumbo 30-year average remains under 7% for a second day in a row and well below the recent high of 7.30% in May. Though daily historical jumbo rates were not published before 2009, it's estimated the 8.14% peak reached last fall was the most expensive jumbo 30-year average in 20-plus years.

The Weekly Freddie Mac Average

Every Thursday, Freddie Mac publishes a weekly average of 30-year mortgage rates. This week’s reading dropped 4 basis points to 6.95% after spending much of the last two months above 7%. In October, Freddie Mac's average reached a historic 23-year peak of 7.79%. It later dropped significantly, registering a low point of 6.60% in mid-January.

Freddie Mac’s average differs from what we report for 30-year rates because Freddie Mac calculates a weekly average that blends five previous days of rates. In contrast, our Investopedia 30-year average is a daily reading, offering a more precise and timely indicator of rate movement. In addition, the criteria for included loans (e.g., amount of down payment, credit score, inclusion of discount points) varies between Freddie Mac's methodology and our own.

Today's Mortgage Rate Averages: Refinancing

Refinancing rates were a mixed bad on Thursday. While the 30-year refi average gained 3 basis points, the 15-year refi average fell 6 basis points. The jumbo 30-year re✤fi average gained 20 basis points, almost reversing its 23 basis po🌊int loss on Wednesday.

Calculate monthly payments for different loan scenarios with our 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Mortgage Calculator.

Mortgage Rates by State

The lowest mortgage rates available vary depending on the state where originations occur. Mortgage rates can be influenced by state-level variations in credit score, average mortgage loan type, and size, in addition to individual lenders' varying risk management strategies.

The states with t🔯he cheapest 30-year new purchase rates on Thursday were New York, Colorado, Tennessee, North Carolina, Oregon, Texas, Utah🌊, and Florida. The states with the highest average rates were Alaska; West Virginia; Washington, D.C.; North Dakota; and South Dakota.

What Causes Mortgage Rates to Rise or Fall?

Mortgage rates are determined by a complex in♔teraction of macroecono🦩mic and industry factors, such as:

• The level and direction of the bond market, especially 10-year Treasury yields
• The Federal Reserve's current monetary policy, especially as it relates to bond buying and funding government-backed mortgages
• Competition between mortgage lenders and across loan types

Because fluctuations can be caused by any number of these at once, it's generally difficult to attribute the change to any one factor.

Macroeconomic factors kept the mortgage market relatively low for much of 2021. In particular, the Federal Reserve had been buying billions of dollars of bonds in response to the pandemic's economic pressures. This 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:bond-buying policy is a major influencer of mortgage rates.

But starting in November 2021, the Fed began tapering its bond purchases downward, making sizable reductions each month until reaching net zero in March 2022.

Between that time and July 2023, the Fed aggressively raised the 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:federal funds rate to fight decades-high inflation. While the fed funds rate can influence mortgage rates, it does not directly do so. In fact, the fed funds꧙ rate and mortgage rates can move in opposite direꦿctions.

But given the historic speed and magnitude of the Fed's 2022 and 2023 rate increases—raising the benchmark rate 5.25 percentage points over 16 months—even the indirect influence of the fed funds rate has resulted in a dramatic upward impact on mortgage rates over the last two years.

The Fed has been maintaining the federal funds rate at its current level since July, with a seventh consecutive rate hold👍 announced on Wednesday. Although inf🔯lation has come down considerably, it is still above the Fed's target level of 2%. Until the central bank feels confident inflation is falling sufficientꦿly and sustainably, it has said it's hesitant to start cutting rates.

The Fed will hold four more meetings this year, with the next one scheduled to conclude July 31.

How We Track Mortgage Rates

The national and state averages cited above are provided as is via the Zillow Mortgage API, assuming a 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:loan-to-value (LTV) ratio of 80% (i.e., a down payment of at least 20%) and an appl🦂icant credit score in the 680–739 range. The resulting rates are r♋epresentative of what customers should expect to see when receiving actual quotes from lenders based on their qualifications, which may vary from advertised teaser rates. © Zillow, Inc., 2024. Use is subject to the Zillow Terms of Use.