Mortgage Rates Hold Near 7%

Mortgage rates are nearing 7%, per Freddie Mac's latest Primary Mortgage Market Survey. As of April 11, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 6.88%. That's up 6 basis points from last week when it averaged 6.82%, and up 51 basis points from this time last year when the 30-year FRM averaged 6.27%.

The 15-year FRM averaged 6.16%, up from last week when it averaged 6.06%. A year ago at this time, the 15-year FRM averaged 5.54%.

“Mortgage rates have been drifting higher for most of the year due to sustained inflation and the reevaluation of the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy path,” said Freddie Mac’s Chief Economist, Sam Khater. “While newly released inflation data from March continues to show a trend of very little movement, the financial market’s reaction paints a far different economic picture. Since inflation decelerated from 9% to 3% between June 2022 and June 2023, the annual growth rate of inflation has remained effectively flat, ranging from 3.1% to 3.7% and averaging 3.3%. The March estimate of 3.5% annual growth is in the middle of that range. However, the market’s reaction was dramatically different, as illustrated by a significant drop in the Dow Jones Industrial Average post-announcement.”

Khater continued, “It’s clear that while the trend in inflation data has been close to flat for nearly a year, the narrative is much less clear and resembles the unrealized expectations of a recession from a year ago.”