Editor's Note: Investopedia will not publish daily mortgage rate news on Monday, Nov. 11, in observance of Veterans Day. We will return to our daily rate coverage on Tuesday, Nov. 12.

Rates for 30-year mortgages experienced their biggest decline since August on Thursday, notching a 6.81% average. This is after reaching their highest rate since the 4th of July weekend on the previous day. In September, mortgage rates plunged to a 2-year low, but since then they've surged. Rate movement also dropped for virtually all other mortgage types Thursday.

Because rates vary widely across lenders, it's always smart to shop around for your best mortgage rate and compare rates regularly, no matter the type of home loan you seek.

Today's New Purchase Mortgage Rate Averages

Rates on 30-year new purchase mortgages subtracted 12 basis points Thursday, reducing the flagship average to 6.81%. That's the biggest decline since Aug. 2, only one day after the highest mark since July 3. The current average is still nearly a full percentage point above the two-year low enjoyed in September—when the 30-year average plunged to 5.89%.

However, rates on 30-year mortgages remain below July's high of 7.08%. They are also more than a percentage point cheaper than the historic 23-year peak of 8.01% reached last October.

Rates on 15-year mortgages meanwhile dropped 9 basis points Thursday. Sinking to a 5.84% average, rates are now well below Tuesday's 6.05% reading, which was its priciest level since July 9. Like 30-year loans, 15-year rates recorded their own two-year low in September, sinking as far as 4.97%. Still, today's 15-year rates remain more than a percentage point below last fall's historic 7.08% peak—a peak since 2000.

Jumbo 30-year mortgages sank 8 basis points Thursday, hitting a 6.87% average, down from the previous day's four-month high. Back in September, rates on jumbo 30-year loans had dropped to 6.24%, their lowest average in 19 months. Although daily historical jumbo rates weren't published before 2009, it's estimated that the 8.14% peak we saw last fall was the most expensive jumbo 30-year average in 20-plus years.

The Weekly Freddie Mac Average

Every Thursday, Freddie Mac, a government-sponsored buyer of mortgage loans, publishes a weekly average of 30-year mortgage rates. Yesterday's reading shot up another 7 basis points, to 6.79%, while the reading of 6.08% just six weeks ago was the lowest average in two years. Last October, Freddie Mac's average surged to a historic 23-year peak of 7.79%.

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.

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.

What Causes Mortgage Rates to Rise or Fall?

Mortgage rates are determined by a complex interaction of macroeconomic an♛d 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 any number of these can cause fluctuations simultaneously, 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 doesn't directly do so. In fact, the fed funds rate and mor𒉰tgage rates can move in opposite directions.

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 maintained the federal funds rate at its peak level for almost 14 months, beginning in July 2023. But on Sept. 18, the central bank 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:announced the first rate cut 𝓰in what's expected to be a series of decreases in 2024 and likely 2025. This first reduction was by 0.50 percentage points.

Yesterday, the Fed 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:announced an additional rate cut of 0.25 percentage points, bringing the federal funds rate to 4.5% to🐷 4.75%. With this cut, the fed funds rate reaches its lowest level since March 2023.

The Fed's next rate announcement will be made Dec. 18.

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 applicant credit score in the 680–739 range. The resulting rates represent what borrowers should expect when receiving quotes from lenders based on their qualifications, which may vary from advertise💧d teaser rates. © Zi❀llow, Inc., 2024. Use is subject to the Zillow Terms of Use.