Mortgage rates rose this week to the highest level in nearly a year, 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 climbed to 6.55% – the highest level since August 2025 – from last week's reading of 6.49%.
The average rate on a 30-year loan was 6.75% a year ago.
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"Purchase application demand has weakened recently, but housing affordability is more favorable and housing inventory continues to rise, thus the backdrop for prospective homebuyers is modestly improving," said Freddie Mac chief economist Sam Khater.
The average rate on a 15-year fixed mortgage rose to 5.93% from last week's reading of 5.82%.
Mortgage 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 4.57% as of Thursday afternoon.
"June CPI data showed headline inflation cooling to 3.5% and core inflation easing to 2.6%, both below expectations and a welcome sign for rate-watchers," said Realtor.com senior economist Hannah Jones. "However, the conflict in the Middle East flared up once again this week, pushing oil prices and Treasury yields higher. Since mortgage rates tend to track the 10-year Treasury yield, they're likely to follow suit as long as oil markets stay jumpy."
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The latest mortgage data comes as conditions in the housing market have improved somewhat for buyers, many of whom have been on the sidelines as tight inventory has supported higher home prices and mortgage rates have held relatively steady.
Realtor.com recently released a midyear update to its 2026 housing market forecast that estimates home price growth will slow to 1.2% this year, a rate that's slower than the original forecast for the year and is below the current pace of inflation. That means home prices would be effectively declining in real, inflation-adjusted terms.
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