Best Mortgage Rates: Track Mortgage Rates and Trends for Future Homebuyers

In recent years, mortgage rates have hovered in the 6% range, making home ownership less attainable for a larger number of Americans.

Homeowners who purchased before or at the start of the pandemic may feel tied to their lower rates and hesitant to move until rates go back down, and many who don’t own homes at all are sticking with renting while they play the wait-and-see game, monitoring unyielding mortgage rates and high home prices.

These homeowners and renters will need some patience. It could be a long time before rates drop significantly.

Below, we’ll explore where to find the best mortgage rates, how various loan types (and other factors) affect mortgage rates, and what’s going on in the world that’s keeping these rates from dropping.

Table of Contents

1. Average mortgage rates
   1. 30-year fixed-rate mortgages
      1. 30-year fixed-rate conforming loans
   2. 15-year fixed-rate mortgages
2. What’s going on with mortgage rates?
   1. Since the pandemic
   2. When will rates go down?
   3. Will we ever see a 3% mortgage rate again?
3. What affects mortgage rates?
4. 5 ways to get the best mortgage rate

Average mortgage rates

Finding the best mortgage rates takes a little effort, and so much of it depends on factors outside of your control.

Here’s what current mortgage rates look like across various types:

30-year fixed-rate mortgages

The most common type of mortgage is a 30-year fixed-rate loan. The table below shows current and historical mortgage rates across all types of 30-year fixed-rate loans; we’ll further break this down by loan types below the core table.

Freddie Mac, 30-Year Fixed Rate Mortgage Average in the United States [MORTGAGE30US], retrieved from FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis; https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MORTGAGE30US, November 24, 2025.

30-year fixed-rate conforming loans

A conforming loan meets the guidelines set by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, including loan limits and requirements for credit score and debt-to-income ratio (DTI). That means jumbo loans and government-backed loans, such as FHA loans, are non-conforming.

The table below shows current and historical mortgage rates for 30-year fixed conforming loans.

Optimal Blue, 30-Year Fixed Rate Conforming Mortgage Index [OBMMIC30YF], retrieved from FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis; https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/OBMMIC30YF, November 24, 2025.

30-year fixed-rate FHA loans

An FHA loan is backed by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and has softer requirements that make homeownership more attainable for first-time buyers. For instance, they only require 3.5% down and allow credit scores as low as 580.

The table below shows current and historical mortgage rates for 30-year fixed FHA loans.

Optimal Blue, 30-Year Fixed Rate FHA Mortgage Index [OBMMIFHA30YF], retrieved from FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis; https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/OBMMIFHA30YF, November 24, 2025.

30-year fixed-rate VA loans

VA loans are designed for active-duty military members, as well as veterans. The best VA loans require 0% down and have competitive interest rates.

The table below shows current and historical mortgage rates for 30-year fixed VA loans.

Optimal Blue, 30-Year Fixed Rate Veterans Affairs Mortgage Index [OBMMIVA30YF], retrieved from FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis; https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/OBMMIVA30YF, November 24, 2025.

30-year fixed-rate USDA loans

If you buy a home in an eligible rural location, you may be able to get a USDA loan, which has low interest rates and no down payment required and lets you roll closing costs into the loan balance.

The table below shows current and historical mortgage rates for 30-year fixed USDA loans.

Optimal Blue, 30-Year Fixed Rate USDA Mortgage Index [OBMMIUSDA30YF], retrieved from FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis; https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/OBMMIUSDA30YF, November 24, 2025.

30-year fixed-rate jumbo loans

As mentioned above, jumbo loans are a type of non-conforming loan. In the case of a jumbo loan, the amount you borrow is greater than the conforming limit for a single-family property; this limit changes each year and varies by location.

The table below shows current and historical mortgage rates for 30-year fixed jumbo loans.

Optimal Blue, 30-Year Fixed Rate Jumbo Mortgage Index [OBMMIJUMBO30YF], retrieved from FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis; https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/OBMMIJUMBO30YF, November 24, 2025.

15-year fixed-rate mortgages

Choosing a 15-year mortgage instead of a 30-year term can save you a great deal of money. Paying off the loan in half the time means you’ll spend much less in interest. Plus, interest rates are usually lower for shorter-term mortgages. The trade-off, however, is that monthly loan payments are significantly larger to achieve the faster payoff.

The table below shows current and historical mortgage rates across all types of 15-year fixed-rate loans.

Freddie Mac, 15-Year Fixed Rate Mortgage Average in the United States [MORTGAGE15US], retrieved from FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis; https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MORTGAGE15US, November 24, 2025.

Adjustable-rate mortgage examples

Most homeowners choose fixed-rate mortgages. As the name implies, the interest rate is fixed over the life of the loan. On the other hand, you can choose an adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM). These typically start at a lower rate than fixed-rate mortgages, which makes them appealing at closing.

However, after a set number of years, the low-rate introductory period ends, and the interest rate can routinely change, either up or down (but often up). This makes monthly payments less predictable and could mean you end up spending more money over the life of the loan.

Common types of adjustable-rate mortgages include:

• 5/1 ARMs
• 5/6 ARMs
• 7/1 ARMs
• 7/6 ARMs
• 10/1 ARMs
• 10/6 ARMs

The first number represents the length of the fixed-rate introductory period (in years); the second number represents how often rate can change after the introductory period:

• 6 means the rate will change once every six months.
• 1 means the rate will change once a year.

For instance, a 10/6 ARM has a fixed rate for 10 years. Thereafter, the rate can change once every six months.

5/1 adjustable-rate mortgage

According to the latest data from The Mortgage Reports, the current initial rate for a 5/1 adjustable-rate mortgage is 6.127% APR.

7/6 adjustable-rate mortgage

According to the latest data from Zillow, the current initial rate for a 7/6 adjustable-rate mortgage is 6.545% APR.

What’s going on with mortgage rates?

In recent years, the housing market has been plagued by consistently high mortgage rates. And while today’s mortgage rates are only a fraction of the record high rates of the 1980s (they peaked at more than 18%, yikes!), they’re still steep enough to deter would-be home buyers from making an offer.

So what exactly is going on with mortgage rates, and how are they likely to change in the coming years?

Mortgage rates since the pandemic

As Americans settled into that blissful week of doing nothing between Christmas and New Year’s in 2019, 30-year fixed mortgage rates were at 3.74%. By March 2020, when the World Health Organization (WHO) officially declared the COVID-19 outbreak a global pandemic, rates had dropped to 3.29%.

In the months that followed, the Federal Reserve cut the benchmark interest rate to zero to stimulate the economy. That, in turn, led to a significant drop in mortgage rates, reaching a record low of 2.65% in January 2021.

Those were happy times for home buyers and for homeowners who refinanced their mortgages, but they didn’t last long. As governments across the globe enacted policies to fight post-pandemic inflation, mortgage rates began to climb again, peaking at 7.79% in October 2023.

Since then, mortgage rates have started to come down, but slowly and steadily. While it may be nice to have more predictable mortgage trends compared to the volatility of the early post-pandemic years, the slow mortgage rate decline in the last two years has been frustrating for would-be buyers who are holding out for a larger rate drop.

When will mortgage rates go down?

Mortgage rates are on the decline, but they’re moving slowly. Answering a question like “when will mortgage rates go down?” is tough, because it really depends on the context:

• Mortgage rates are actively coming down from their post-pandemic highs. Today’s rates are hovering just above 6%, about 1.75% lower than they were two-plus years ago.
• Mortgage rates aren’t decreasing by a meaningful amount for most homeowners and aren’t expected to for a while.

Most industry experts agree that we will end 2026 at or just below 6%, meaning there won’t be much movement for the next calendar year.

• Fannie Mae: In a September 2025 report, Fannie Mae predicted we’ll end 2026 at an average mortgage rate of 5.9%.
• Zillow: Experts at Zillow argued in October 2025 that rates won’t dip below 6% in 2026.
• Mortgage Bankers Association: In its October 2025 forecast, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) predicted rates will hover between 6% and 6.5% at the end of 2026.

The extremely low rates we saw during the pandemic were crisis-driven, not typical market conditions. Barring another major economic shock, it’s more realistic to expect mortgage rates to stabilize at healthy, sustainable levels instead of returning to those emergency lows.

Will we ever see a 3% mortgage rate again?

The 3% mortgage rate in the aftermath of the pandemic sounds enticing, but if you’re holding out hope that rates will drop that low again, you’ll be waiting a long time. Because of rampant inflation and ongoing unemployment (and a bleak outlook as artificial intelligence reduces the need for human headcount), we can expect mortgage rates to stay well above 3% for a long time.

Waiting for a miracle 3% might not be in your best interest anyway. Typically, when mortgage rates drop, housing prices go up because of simple supply and demand. In other words, when mortgages become more affordable, buyers are more likely to start shopping again. That increased demand creates a seller’s market, where sellers then inflate the price of their homes and start potential bidding wars among multiple interested buyers.

For many borrowers, it makes sense to buy a house now at a lower price with a higher interest rate, rather than to wait for rates to drop and housing prices to go up. After all, you can likely refinance your mortgage to a better rate down the road, but you’re stuck with the price you paid for the home until you pay it off or sell it.

Most of my clients realize that we’re probably not going back to sub-3% mortgage rates anytime soon. When they’re trying to decide between renting and buying, we look at the breakeven points and talk through different mortgage options and terms.
In the end, they’re making informed choices that fit their life goals and financial picture.

What affects mortgage rates?

Mortgage rates change daily, which puts pressure on homebuyers to lock in a rate with a lender when they feel like they’ve hit a sweet spot. You can never know 100% whether rates will be up or down a day or week after you sign on the dotted line, but several clear factors influence mortgage rates and make them more predictable.

• The good news? You’re in control of many of those factors.

• The bad news? The most important factor is one you can’t control at all.

Current market

First and foremost, mortgage rates are driven by the state of the economy, and that’s something you have almost zero influence on. These specific economic signals influence rates most heavily.

10-year Treasury yield

In general, mortgage rates follow the 10-year Treasury yield, which is the interest rate the federal government pays to borrow money (via Treasury notes, sold to American citizens) for 10 years. Currently, the 10-year Treasury yield is 4.00%.
You’ve probably noticed: That’s a couple of percentage points below current mortgage rates. So what gives?

Mortgage lenders employ a spread, which is another way of saying they “mark up” their rates by a couple of percentage points to protect their investments and make a profit off their loans.

Federal funds rate

The federal funds rate, set by the Federal Reserve, has a greater impact on the interest rate of your savings account and of shorter-term loans, such as credit cards, car loans, and home equity lines of credit (HELOCs).

That said, the federal funds rate still affects longer-term lending, such as mortgages, to some degree. While mortgage rates aren’t directly tied to this rate, you can expect them generally to move up and down with the federal funds rate.

The Fed meets eight times a year to set the rate, leaving it as is or adjusting it up or down.

Additional economic factors

While the Treasury rate and federal funds rate are the biggest economic indicators for mortgage rates, other economic factors can play a role, including:

• Current economic conditions
• Financial markets
• Inflation rates

Credit score

General mortgage rates are set in stone by current market conditions, but there’s still some wiggle room in the rates. For instance, you might qualify for a 6.25% rate, while your co-worker or cousin qualifies for a 6.30% rate. That variability is influenced by factors you do control. Chief among them: your credit score.

As you’d expect, borrowers with higher credit scores get lower mortgage rates. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) offers a rate exploration tool, which lets you input your credit score, as well as details about the home price and location, your down payment, and the loan type and terms. The tool then predicts the mortgage rate you’d likely qualify for.

If you can wait to move for six months to a year, it could be worth it to actively work to improve your credit score and qualify for a slightly better mortgage rate. Even a half a percent difference can save you thousands of dollars in the long term.

Here are some easy ways to improve your credit score over time:

• Make on-time payments for all bills, focusing on any that are reported to credit bureaus.
• Pay down your credit card and only swipe it when you can pay it off that month.
• Review your credit report and dispute errors you find there.
• Try one of these best credit-building apps to establish and improve credit over a longer period.

Where you buy

The state or even the city in which you purchase a home can influence your mortgage rate, according to the CFPB.

Based on the latest (second quarter of 2025) data from Visual Capitalist, these are the five states with the lowest average interest rates:

1. Idaho (4.35%)
2. Hawaii (4.48%)
3. Utah (4.54%)
4. California (4.56%)
5. Arizona (4.56)

On the flip side, these are the five states with the highest average interest rates:

1. New Jersey (6.85%)
2. Nebraska (6.50%)
3. Connecticut (6.48%)
4. Texas (6.44%)
5. New Hampshire (6.37%)

Other loan details

Though they have a small impact on your rate, some loan details can still affect the APR on your mortgage, including:

• Home price and loan size: Mortgage loans that are notably large or small can have higher interest rates than those considered more average.
• Down payment: Generally speaking, a larger down payment yields a lower interest rate. Speak with your lender about how much they may reduce your rate if you put more money down. (Remember: Putting down 20% may also help you avoid costly private mortgage insurance depending on the loan type.)
• Loan and rate type: Rates for different types of loans, from conventional and FHA to VA and USDA, can vary significantly. The same is true for fixed-rate mortgages vs. adjustable-rate mortgages; the initial rates for ARMs are typically lower, but they become unpredictable after a certain period of time, and often jump higher than those of fixed-rate loans.
• Loan term: While 30-year mortgages make monthly payments more manageable, you can usually score a lower rate by choosing a 15-year mortgage.

5 ways to get the best mortgage rate

As we’ve seen, mortgage rates are almost entirely out of our control. But there are a few things you can do to ensure you get the lowest rates available:

1. Shop around: Your real estate agent will likely recommend a lender to help get you prequalified. Don’t feel tethered to that lender. Take some time to shop around and find the best mortgage lenders offering the lowest rates.
2. Improve your credit score: If you’re in no rush to move, work on boosting your credit score for a few months before getting prequalified for a mortgage. Borrowers with excellent credit (800 or above) get the best mortgage rates.
3. Choose the right location: Some states are known for more affordable houses and lower mortgage rates. Factor in the cost of living, local housing prices and mortgage rates, property taxes, job opportunities, schools, and other factors that are important to your way of life when choosing where to live.
4. Make a larger down payment: If you can afford to put more money down, ask your lender if it would result in a lower rate. You might also be able to explore buying down your rate, but that’s a larger decision that requires a discussion with a financial advisor to make sure it’s the best move for you.
5. Choose a shorter loan term: Choosing a 15-year mortgage over a 30-year mortgage is risky; larger monthly payments can strain your budget and make it more difficult to stay on top of your bills. But you’ll save in interest in the long run and likely net a better mortgage rate.