‘The Big Money Show’ panel analyzes the state of the housing market after mortgage rates fell to their lowest level in one year.
Mortgage interest fell again this week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Wednesday.
Freddie Mac’s latest Primary Mortgage Market Survey, released Wednesday, showed the average interest rate on the benchmark Mortgage with a fixed term of 30 years fell to 6.18% from last week’s 6.21%.
A year ago, the average interest rate on a 30-year loan was 6.85%.
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Mortgage rates fell to 6.18% this week, according to Freddie Mac. (Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)
“The modest decline reflects a bond market that has been moving all week – albeit within a tight range – following a mix of cooling and resilient macro signals,” said Jake Krimmel, senior economist at Realtor.com.
Mortgage rates are not directly affected by the Fed’s interest rate decision, but closely follow the interest rate on ten-year government bonds. The ten-year yield fluctuated around 4.14% on Wednesday afternoon.
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On Tuesday, the Bureau of Economic Analysis released its initial estimate of third-quarter GDP, showing that the economy grew at an annual rate of 4.3% in the three-month period including July, August and September. That figure exceeded expectations of economists surveyed by LSEG, who had estimated GDP growth of 3.3% in the third quarter.
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And last week the government published the latest inflation and employment figures.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics said Thursday that the consumer price index rose 0.2% in November from the previous month, while rising year-over-year to 2.7%. Both figures were cooler than expectations from economists polled by LSEG, who forecast a monthly increase of 0.3% and a year-on-year rate of 3.1%.
The Department of Labor reported Tuesday that employers added 64,000 jobs in November. The unemployment rate rose to 4.6% in November, the highest since September 2021.
Meanwhile, the average interest rate on a 15-year mortgage rose to 5.5%, up from last week’s 5.47%.
The average interest rate on a 15-year fixed mortgage rose to 5.5% from last week’s 5.47%. (David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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Krimmel said inventory in most markets is higher than last year and buyers will enter the new year with a better rate environment than they experienced in spring 2025.
“If mortgage rates can simply stay within this range – or show a modest decline – buyers are likely to see a noticeable increase in purchasing power next year, even amid continued macroeconomic and Fed policy uncertainty,” he said. “It won’t take much improvement from here for it to feel like a step forward in 2026 after two slow housing years.”
