Weekly Real Estate News
Summary
Freddie Mac’s benchmark 30-year fixed mortgage rate rose to 7.03% on Sept. 24, crossing 7% for the first time since January 2025. The rate has increased for five consecutive weeks, adding renewed affordability pressure for homebuyers.
Mortgage rates pushed through 7% this week for the first time in 20 months, extending a rapid climb that is again tightening affordability for homebuyers.
The average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage rose to 7.03% as of Sept. 24, up from 6.95% a week earlier, according to Freddie Mac’s latest Primary Mortgage Market Survey. A year ago, the same benchmark stood at 6.30%.
The 15-year fixed mortgage averaged 6.42%, up from 6.26% last week and 5.49% a year earlier.
Thursday’s reading is the highest for Freddie Mac’s 30-year benchmark since Jan. 16, 2025, when it averaged 7.04%. It also marks the fifth consecutive weekly increase. The 30-year rate has climbed from 6.65% on Aug. 20 to 7.03% now, according to Freddie Mac’s historical PMMS data.
“The housing market remains supported by a solid labor market and an economy that is growing at a healthy rate,” Freddie Mac Chief Economist Sam Khater said in Thursday’s release.
Another hit to affordability
The move above 7% adds to a sharp reversal in borrowing costs just as the housing market heads into the fall. WRE News reported last week that the Freddie Mac average had jumped 19 basis points to 6.95%, then its highest level since January 2025. This week’s increase adds another eight basis points.
For a $400,000 30-year fixed loan, principal and interest at 7.03% is about $2,669 per month, compared with roughly $2,648 at 6.95%. Compared with 6.30%, the Freddie Mac rate from a year ago, the difference is about $193 a month before taxes and insurance. Actual borrower rates and payments vary with credit, down payment, points, loan type and other factors.
The significance of the 7% threshold is greater than the eight-basis-point weekly move alone. Buyers who had been waiting for borrowing costs to retreat are instead facing a benchmark rate that has risen 38 basis points in five weeks.
Mortgage rates do not move mechanically with the Federal Reserve’s federal funds rate. They tend to respond more closely to movements in longer-term bond yields and expectations for inflation and economic growth.
What the Freddie Mac rate measures
Freddie Mac’s PMMS is a national benchmark, not a universal consumer quote. The survey is based on mortgage rates collected from thousands of loan applications submitted through Freddie Mac’s Loan Product Advisor system. It focuses on conventional, conforming, fully amortizing purchase loans for borrowers with good or excellent credit and 20% down.
Individual borrowers can receive rates above or below the weekly average depending on loan size, credit profile, property type, down payment, points and lender pricing.
The 7.03% reading marks a notable turn for the market. After spending all of 2026 below 7% through last week, Freddie Mac’s benchmark has crossed the line. For lenders, brokers, builders and real estate agents, what matters next is whether the move proves temporary or becomes another sustained period of 7%-plus mortgage rates.
