The average U.S. long-term mortgage rate rose for a second straight week but stayed near recent lows, according to Freddie Mac’s weekly survey released Thursday. The benchmark 30-year fixed-rate mortgage edged up to 6.1%, up from 6.09% the prior week, and remained just above its lowest level in more than three years. Freddie Mac also reported higher borrowing costs for borrowers seeking 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, with the average rate climbing to 5.49% from 5.44%.
One year ago, Freddie Mac said the average 30-year fixed rate was 6.95%, while the average 15-year rate was 6.12%. Mortgage rates, Freddie Mac noted in the report, are influenced by factors ranging from Federal Reserve interest-rate policy decisions to bond investors’ expectations for the economy and inflation. The survey said mortgage rates generally follow the trajectory of the 10-year Treasury yield, which lenders use as a guide for pricing home loans.
In bond-market data provided alongside the survey, the 10-year Treasury yield was at 4.24% at midday Thursday, just below where it was a week earlier. The latest uptick in mortgage rates came a day after the Federal Reserve decided to pause cuts to its main interest rate following three rate reductions in a row to close out 2025, in part to shore up the job market. While the Fed does not set mortgage rates directly, its decisions to raise or lower its short-term rate are watched by bond investors because they can affect the yield on 10-year Treasurys that flow into mortgage pricing.
The report also tied higher mortgage rates in recent weeks to reactions in the bond market to geopolitical tensions. Even with this week’s increase, the broader backdrop described in the survey remains one of constrained housing activity: the U.S. housing market has been in a sales slump since 2022, when mortgage rates moved higher from pandemic-era lows. Higher mortgage rates combined with years of high home prices and a national shortage of homes following more than a decade of below-average home construction have kept many potential buyers priced out, with sales of previously occupied U.S. homes staying near 30-year lows.
The survey said mortgage relief late last summer helped support a rebound in existing home sales toward the end of last year, including a 5.1% jump in December from the prior month. Still, the recent rise in rates translated into fewer borrowers seeking loans: the Mortgage Bankers Association reported that mortgage applications overall fell 8.5% last week from a week earlier. It said applications for refinancing fell 16%, and that refinancing accounted for 56.2% of all applications. The association reported that applications for loans to buy a home slipped 0.4%.
Economists generally expect mortgage rates to ease further this year, but the survey also noted that forecasts show the average rate on a 30-year mortgage remaining above 6%—about twice what it was six years ago. Jiayi Xu, an economist at Realtor.com, said that while slightly better rates have supported modest increases in sales and helped temper affordability pressures, the recovery is expected to be slow and uneven until rates move significantly lower and inventory expands further.