Rates on 30-year mortgages edged 4 basis points higher Thursday, nudging the average to 6.36%. That keeps rates within close range of the almost 17-month low registered two and a half weeks ago. Rate movement for other new purchase mortgage rates was mixed, though no average moved more than 6 basis points.

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 rates regularly, no matter the type of home loan y🍎ou seek.

Today's New Purchase Mortgage Rate Averages

Rates on 30-year new purchase mortgages inched 4 basis points higher Thursday, ending a three-day decline. That bumps the 30-year average up to 6.36%, which is just 8 basis points above the Aug. 5 reading of 6.28%—the cheapest level we'd seen since April 2023. Today's rates are almost three-quarters of a percentage point below July's high of 7.08%, as well as being far below the historic 23-year high of 8.01% reached last October.

Thursday's rates on 15-year mortgages added 5 basis points, climbing to a 5.47% average. That's after sinking earlier this month to 5.32%, the lowest 15-year reading since February 2023. Today's rates are far below last fall's historic 7.08% peak—the highest average since 2000.

Jumbo 30-year rates saw the biggest change of the day, though they only rose 6 basis points. The Thursday average of 6.64% is two-thirds of a percentage point below this spring's jumbo 30-year high of 7.30%. Although daily historical jumbo rates were not published before 2009, it's estimated 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 dipped a minor 3 basis points—to 6.46%—after plunging two weeks ago to its lowest weekly average since May 2023. Freddie Mac's average last October reached 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.

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What Causes Mortgage Rates to Rise or Fall?

Mortgage rates are determined by a complex interaction of macroeconomic🥀 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 doesn't directly do so. In fact, the fed funds rate and mortgage 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 has been maintaining the federal funds rate at its current level since last July, with an 澳洲ꦍ幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:eighth consec🥂utive rate hold announced on July 31. Although inflation has come down considerably, it's still above the Fed's target level of 2%. Until the central bank feels confident infla🦄tion is falling sufficiently and sustainably, it has said it'✤s hesitant to start cutting rates.

The Fed will hold three more meetings this year, with the next one scheduled to conclude Sept. 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 advertised teaser rates. © Zillow, I﷽nc., 2024. Use is subject to the Zillow Terms of Use.