Mortgage rates top 7% for first time since early 2025

Published September 24, 2026 12:11pm EDT | Updated September 24, 2026 12:42pm EDT Average rate on the benchmark 30-year fixed mortgage rises to 7.03%, Freddie Mac says Mortgage rates rose to more than 7% for the first time since January 2025, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. Freddie Mac's latest Primary Mortgage Market Survey, released Thursday, showed the average rate on the benchmark 30-year fixed mortgage rose to 7.03% from last week's reading of 6.95%.The average rate on a 30-year loan was 6.3% a year ago. A real estate agent sets up for an open house in Rancho Cucamonga, California, on May 9, 2026. (Kyle Grillot/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)AMERICA'S BEST AND WORST CITIES FOR HOUSING AFFORDABILITY RANKED The average rate on a 15-year fixed mortgage climbed to 6.42% from last week's reading of 6.26%.THE US CITIES WHERE HOME PRICES ARE FALLING THE FASTESTMortgage rates are affected by several factors, including the Federal Reserve and geopolitics. Though mortgage rates are not directly affected by the Fed's interest rate decisions, they closely track the 10-year Treasury yield. The 10-year yield hovered around 5.1% as of Thursday afternoon."Rates entered the week just 5 basis points below that line after jumping 19 basis points to 6.95%, the largest one-week move since April 2025," said Realtor.com senior economist Anthony Smith. "The 10-year Treasury yield drove most of that increase and has kept climbing, with inflationary pressure building and Brent crude oil prices hovering above $100 per barrel again. With the 10-year Treasury surging 15 bps on Wednesday, to 5.11 percent, a 19-year high, upward mortgage rate pressure seems likely to linger."GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HERE