30-Year Mortgage Rates Jump to 5-Month High

After rising a quarter percentage point last week, 30-year mortgage rates moved higher still Monday, shooting up to a 7.60% average. It's the most expensive level for 30-year rates since just after Thanksgiving. Rates for almost all other new purchase and refi mortgage types also moved to higher ground Monday.

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

Today's Mortgage Rate Averages: New Purchase

Rates on 30-year mortgages tacked on another 18 basis points Monday, adding to a substantial climb last week. The flagship average is now up to 7.60%, its highest level since Nov. 28.

Rates on 30-year loans are elevated compared to early February, when the 30-year average dipped down to high-6% territory. Still, rates are considerably cheaper than October, when the 30-year average hit a historic 23-year peak of 8.45%.

New purchase 15-year mortgage rates rose Monday, climbing 10 basis points. Now at 6.95%, the 15-year average is also at its most expensive level in more than five months. However, rates are still more affordable than last fall's 7.59% average—a peak since 2000.

After surging mid-week, jumbo 30-year rates marched in place for a third day Friday, holding at 7.20%. That's the most expensive jumbo 30-year average since late November. Daily historical jumbo rates are not available before 2009, but it's estimated the 7.52% peak reached last fall was the most expensive jumbo 30-year average in 20-plus years.

Though 30-year rates were the biggest mover among new purchase loans, several other averages also rose by double-digit basis points, including a jump of 15 points in the 10-year fixed-rate average. The only new purchase rates to dip were for FHA 30-year loans.

The Weekly Freddie Mac Average

Every Thursday, Freddie Mac publishes a weekly average of 30-year mortgage rates. Last week's reading inched up 6 basis points to 6.88%. Back in late October, Freddie Mac's average reached a historic peak of 7.79%—its highest level in 23 years. But since then, it has come down significantly, registering a recent low of 6.60% in mid-January.

Freddie Mac’s average differs from our own 30-year average for two notable reasons. First, Freddie Mac calculates a weekly average that blends five previous days of rates, while our Investopedia averages are daily, offering a more precise and timely indicator of rate movement. Second, the rates included in Freddie Mac's survey can include loans priced with discount points, while Investopedia’s averages only include zero-point loans.

Today's Mortgage Rate Averages: Refinancing

Refinancing rates showed even more dramatic movement Monday than their new purchase siblings. The 30-year refi average surged 26 basis points, extending the gap between 30-year new purchase and refi rates to 33 basis points.

Thursday's 15-year refi average also shot up, adding 25 basis points. The jumbo 30-year refi average was meanwhile flat. In addition to the 30-year and 15-year refi averages, 20-year refi rates also saw a jump of about a quarter percentage point.

Calculate monthly payments for different loan scenarios with our 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 the cheapest 30-year new purchase rates Thursday were Mississippi, Vermont, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Wyoming, and Iowa while the states with the highest average rates were Alabama, Tennessee, Maryland, and Oregon.

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 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 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 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 July, with a fifth consecutive rate hold announced on March 20. Although inflation has come down considerably, it is still above the Fed's target level of 2%. Until the central bank feels confident inflation is falling sufficiently and reliably, it has said it is hesitant to start cutting rates.

Still, Fed committee members do collectively expect to reduce rates in 2024. The March 20 meeting included the latest installment of the Fed's "dot plot" forecast, which showed that the median expectation among the 19 Fed members is for three rate decreases—totaling 0.75 percentage points—by year's end. The dot plot also shows similar expected rate cuts in 2025 and 2026.

The Fed will hold six more meetings this year, with the next scheduled for April 30 to May 1.

How We Track Mortgage Rates

The national averages cited above were calculated based on the lowest rate offered by more than 200 of the country's top lenders, assuming a loan-to-value ratio (LTV) of 80% and an applicant with a FICO credit score in the 700–760 range. The resulting rates are representative of what customers should expect to see when receiving actual quotes from lenders based on their qualifications, which may vary from advertised teaser rates.

For our map of the best state rates, the lowest rate currently offered by a surveyed lender in that state is listed, assuming the same parameters of an 80% LTV and a credit score between 700–760.