Average 30-year mortgage rate edges up to 6.3% as housing outlook softens

In the latest weekly reading from Freddie Mac, U.S. mortgage rates moved higher after a brief easing trend, tightening affordability for would-be buyers during the spring homebuying season. The benchmark 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose to 6.3% this week, after averaging 6.23% the week prior, ending a three-week slide in the average rate, Freddie Mac said.

The shift keeps long-term borrowing costs well below where they stood a year earlier. Freddie Mac said the 30-year rate averaged 6.76% a year ago, so even with the week’s increase, the current average remained lower on a year-over-year basis.

Freddie Mac also reported that rates on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages—often associated with homeowners refinancing—rose this week. The average 15-year rate climbed to 5.64% from 5.58% last week, compared with 5.92% a year ago, according to Freddie Mac.

Mortgage pricing is heavily influenced by broader interest-rate expectations and bond-market moves. Freddie Mac said this week’s uptick in the average 30-year rate followed a rise in the yield on U.S. 10-year Treasury notes, which lenders commonly use as a guide for setting mortgage rates. On Thursday, the 10-year Treasury yield was at 4.42% midday, up from 4.39% a week earlier, according to FRED’s vintage value for April 30.

The bond-market volatility has coincided with shifts in Federal Reserve expectations and concerns tied to inflation. The report said high oil prices contributed to the Fed’s Wednesday decision to keep off on interest-rate cuts, and it described the central bank as not directly setting mortgage rates but influencing bond yields through its short-term interest-rate policy.

As the housing market remains sensitive to financing costs, the report said sales activity has been sluggish since 2022, when mortgage rates rose from pandemic-era lows. It also said pending home sales—a measure that tracks when buyers sign contracts and is used as a bellwether for completed sales—showed a mixed pattern this spring: pending home sales rose 1.5% compared with February, but fell 1.1% compared with March of the prior year.

Bright MLS chief economist Lisa Sturtevant pointed to that mixed momentum. “There are some signs of life among buyers, as pending sales have inched up ever so slightly over the past four weeks,” she said. She added, “But the fact remains that we are not going to see rates fall below 6% anytime soon, and the spring housing market is going to be much more subdued than forecasts suggested at the end of last year.”