The average long-term U.S. mortgage rate climbed to 6.53% this week, its highest point in nine months, pushing borrowing costs higher for homebuyers and homeowners looking to refinance. The average 30-year fixed rate was 6.51% last week and 6.89% a year ago, while the 15-year fixed rate rose to 5.87% from 5.85%.
People searching for a rate mortgage loan today are seeing a market that has moved back above levels many borrowers had hoped would keep easing. The 30-year average had slipped just under 6% in late February for the first time since late 2022, but it has not fallen below that mark since then, a reminder of how stubborn financing costs remain even as the peak of the post-pandemic surge has passed.
The latest move also stands out because it came while the broader bond market was sending a softer signal. The yield on the U.S. 10-year Treasury note was 4.46% in midday trading Thursday, down from 4.57% a week ago and well above 3.97% in late February. Mortgage rates generally follow the 10-year yield, yet this week’s average rate moved higher anyway.
That gap matters because the housing market is still struggling with the burden of expensive financing. Mortgage applications fell 8.5% last week from a week earlier, and new home sales dropped 6.2% in April to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 622,000 units. Sales of previously occupied homes were essentially flat last month after declining from a year earlier in the first three months of the year.
The backdrop is a housing slump that dates to 2022, when mortgage rates began climbing from pandemic-era lows. Rates have been mostly trending higher since the war with Iran began, with higher oil prices lifting long-term bond yields and, in turn, mortgage rates. That is why this week’s increase landed harder than the size of the move suggests: buyers were not just facing a higher headline rate, they were facing one that came despite a turn in Treasury yields that should have offered some relief.
For borrowers, the difference is immediate and mechanical. Higher rates can add hundreds of dollars a month to a payment and erode purchasing power, leaving some would-be buyers sidelined and some existing owners locked out of cheaper refinancing. Whether lower Treasury yields begin to filter through into mortgage pricing in the weeks ahead is the question now shaping the market.
