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30-Year Mortgage Rate
About This Indicator
What Is the Mortgage Rate?
The average rate on a new 30-year fixed mortgage, from Freddie Mac's weekly survey since 1971.
Why Does It Matter?
It sets the monthly cost of buying a home. Over 30 years a borrower at 7% repays about $2.40 for every dollar borrowed, against about $1.50 at 3%.
Can Politics Influence It?
It tracks the 10-year Treasury, usually one to two and a half points above it, a rate no administration sets alone. Washington's largest influence is structural: a 30-year fixed loan repayable early without penalty is rare abroad, and exists at this scale here because Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and federal guarantees back most such loans.
Key Idea
This is the rate on a new loan, not what most homeowners pay, since most American mortgages are fixed. When it jumps, owners with cheap loans tend to stay put, so fewer homes come up for sale just as fewer buyers can afford them.
Not Scored
Source: FRED (Freddie Mac). MORTGAGE30US.
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