The 30-year fixed mortgage rate
What this series shows
The average rate on a new 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, as surveyed weekly by Freddie Mac and published every Thursday. It is the figure most rate headlines mean.
The Federal Reserve does not set it. A 30-year mortgage is priced off the 10-year Treasury yield plus a spread that covers the lender’s costs, the risk that the borrower prepays when rates fall, and the price investors demand for the bond the loan is packaged into. The Fed’s policy rate reaches this number only indirectly, through what markets expect it to average over the coming years, which is why mortgage rates can rise in the weeks after a Fed cut.
The survey average is for a borrower with strong credit and a 20 percent down payment, before points and fees. An individual quote will differ.