The average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage in the United States was 7.40% in Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey released October 15, 2026, unchanged on the week and the highest since late 2023. A year earlier the same average was 6.30%. The 15-year fixed averaged 6.71%. This page tracks the number, where it has been, and what moves it, and is corrected as the figure changes.

The current reading

Freddie Mac's survey put the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage at 7.40% as of October 15, 2026, flat from the prior week. The 15-year fixed-rate average was 6.71%, a touch lower on the week. Freddie Mac bases the survey on loan applications its lenders submit across the country, and publishes it every Thursday at noon Eastern. These are national averages for borrowers with strong credit and a standard down payment; an individual quote depends on credit score, loan size, down payment and location, and daily lender rates can differ from the weekly survey.

How the rate has moved

The 30-year average increased for several weeks into early October, reaching 7.40%, and held at that level in the October 15 survey. It is now at its highest point since late 2023. A year ago the same average was 6.30%, so a borrower taking a new 30-year loan today faces a rate more than a full percentage point higher than in October 2025. The 15-year average, often chosen by borrowers refinancing or wanting to pay off a home faster, has stayed near 6.7%.

What drives the 30-year rate

Mortgage rates are not set by the Federal Reserve directly. The 30-year fixed rate tracks the yield on the 10-year Treasury note, plus a spread that reflects risk and the cost of servicing and selling the loan. When the 10-year yield moves, mortgage rates tend to follow within days. In mid-October 2026 the 10-year Treasury yield was near 5.1%, high by the standards of the past decade and a big reason the 30-year mortgage sits above 7%. To understand the link, see how a bond yield works. The Fed influences the picture indirectly: its policy rate shapes short-term rates and expectations for inflation and growth, which in turn move the long-term yields that mortgages follow. For that mechanism, see how the Federal Reserve works.

How Freddie Mac measures it

The Primary Mortgage Market Survey has run since 1971 and is the most widely cited benchmark for US mortgage rates. It reports the average rate and points for conventional, conforming loans, collected from lenders earlier in the week and published each Thursday. Because it is an average of applications rather than a single posted price, it smooths out the daily noise in lender quotes and gives a consistent week-to-week reading.

What a higher rate means for a borrower

The monthly cost of a new loan goes up with the rate. As an illustration, on a $400,000 30-year loan the difference between 6.30% and 7.40% is about $290 a month in principal and interest, or roughly $3,500 a year, before property taxes and insurance. A higher rate does not change the payment on a fixed-rate loan already in place; it affects new purchase loans and anyone refinancing, and it raises the income needed to qualify for a given home price. This page reports the number and the mechanics; it does not recommend when to borrow.

Points and the fine print

The survey rate comes with points, an upfront fee paid to lower the rate, and Freddie Mac reports both figures. A quoted 7.40% typically assumes a fraction of a point paid at closing, so a loan with no points can carry a slightly higher rate. The headline also describes conventional, conforming loans; jumbo loans above the conforming limit, and government-backed FHA and VA loans, are priced on their own terms and can sit above or below the headline average.

Refinancing and affordability

For current owners, the gap between a loan's existing rate and today's 7.40% average decides whether refinancing makes arithmetic sense. Many households locked in far lower rates in 2020 and 2021 and have little reason to refinance at current levels. A common lender guideline is that refinancing is worth examining when the rate improvement is large enough to recover the closing costs within a few years, though the exact break-even depends on the loan size and fees. For buyers, a higher rate raises the monthly payment on any given loan size and the income a lender requires to approve it, which is one channel through which higher rates cool housing demand. None of this is a recommendation about timing; it is the mechanics of how the rate feeds into a household budget.

Where it sits in historical terms

A 30-year rate above 7% feels steep after the sub-4% loans of 2020 and 2021, but it is not far from the long-run picture. Over the roughly half-century Freddie Mac has run the survey, the 30-year fixed has spent much of its history above 7%, reached about 18% in late 1981, and fell below 5% mainly in the decade after the 2008 financial crisis. The rates of the early 2020s were the exception, not the rule.

How this page is updated

Freddie Mac publishes a new survey every Thursday. This tracker is corrected to the latest reading as it changes, under the same web address, so the figure at the top always reflects the most recent published average. Every number here is dated to the survey it comes from.