The 30-year mortgage rate average fell below 7% on Wednesday when it hit a seven-month low of 6.91%. The last time the flagship rate was t𒀰his ♏low was in the middle of May. The 15-year mortgage rate average also fell to a seven-month low of 6.12%. All other new purchase mortgage rate averages dropped or remained unchanged, with the 10-year fixed rate falling below the 6% threshold to 5.97%.

Because rates vary widely across lenders, it's always smart to shop around for your best mortgage option and compare rates regular🐠ly, no matter the type of home loan you're seeking.

Today's Mortgage Rate Averages: New Purchase

The 30-year new purchase mortgage rate average is at a low not seen since May 15. Wednesday's average dropped 15 basis points, landing at 6.91%. Just three weeks ago, the 30-year rate sat over half a point higher, and it's a dramatic change from mid-October when 30-year mortgage rates surged to a 23-year peak of 8.45%.

Rates on 15-year new purchase loans also dropped lower again to sit at 6.12%, losing 15 basis points after rising to 6.27% on Tuesday. That's still dramatically lower than October when 15-year rates soared to a 7.59% peak, the most expensive average since 2000.

The 10-year fixed rate was the only average to drop below 6% on Wednesday. With a loss of 22 basis points, the 10-year fixed mortgage rate average reached a seven-month low of 5.97%. It was the second biggest rate mover, just behind the VA 30-year fixed ra🎀te average which lost 26 basis points to land at 6.54%.

Jumbo 30-year rates marched in place for a third day Wednesday, remaining steady at 6.31%, still the cheapest reading since June. Though daily historical jumbo rates are not available before 2009, it's estimated that the 7.52% peak in October was the most expensive average for jumbo 30-year loans in more than 20 years.

Today's Mortgage Rate Averages: Refinancing

The 30-year refi average lost 41 basi🗹s points Wednesday to sit at 7.31%. The difference between 30-year new purchase and refi rates closed a little with the drop to a spread of 40 basis points. Refi rates for 15-year loans lost 18 basis points, while the jumbo 30-year refi average was flat again🅷.

Every re🌟financing average either dropped or remained unchanged, except for one: the 7/6 ARM loan rate averag🌌e rose just 2 basis points on Wednesday. The biggest refi rate mover besides the 30- and 15-year averages was the FHA 30-year fixed rate, which also dropped 18 basis points.

Calculate monthly payments for different loan scenarios with our 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Mortgage Calculator.

Lowest Mortgage Rates by State

The lowest mortgage rates available vary depending on the state where originations occur. Mortgage rates can be influenced by state-level variations in credit score, average mortgage loan type, and size, in addition to individual lenders' varying risk management strategies.

O𝔍n Wednesday, Minnesota was the only state with an average rate higher than 7%. The states with the cheapest 30-year new purchase rates were Mississippi, Louisiana, and Delaware, while the states with the most expensive averages besides Minnesota were Nevada, Arizona, Oregon, and Georgia.

What Causes Mortgage Rates to Rise or Fall?

Mortgage rates are determined by a complex interaction of macroeconomic and industry facto🐠rs, such a🔯s:

• The level and direction of the bond market, especially 10-year Treasury yields
• The Federal Reserve's current monetary policy, especially as it relates to bond buying and funding government-backed mortgages
• Competition between mortgage lenders and across loan types

Because fluctuations can be caused by any number of these at once, it's generally difficult to attribute the change to any one factor.

Macroeconomic factors kept the mortgage market relatively low for much of 2021. In particular, the Federal Reserve had been buying billions of dollars of bonds in response to the pandemic's economic pressures. This bond-buying policy is a major influencer of mortgage rates.

But starting in November 2021, the Fed began tapering its bond purchases downward, making sizable reductions each month until reaching net zero in March 2022.

Since that time, the Fed has been aggressively raising the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:federal funds rate to fight decades-high inflation. While the fed funds rate can influence mortgage rates, it does not directly do so. In fact, the fed funds rate and mortg✨age rates can move in opposite directions.

However, given the historic speed and magnitude of the Fed's 2022 and 2023 rate increases—raising the benchmark rate 5.25 percentage points over the last 18 months—even the indirect influence of the fed funds rate has resulted in an upward impact on mortgage rates over the last two years.

The Fed has opted to hold rates steady at its last three meetings, the last of which concluded Dec. 13. Though Fed Chair Jerome Powell indicated the rate-setting committee is leaving the possibility of another rate hike on the table, should inflation not progress further downward as projected, data released with the recent Fed announcement show that none of the 19 Fed members expect another rate increase. In fact, the committee's median expectation is that three rate cuts will be implemented by the end of 2024, with 80% predicting two to four rate decreases. The Fed's next rate-setting meeting will conclude on Jan. 31.

How We Track Mortgage Rates

The national averages cited above were calculated based on the lowest rate offered by more than 200 of the country's top lenders, assuming a 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:loan-to-value ratio (LTV) of 80% and an applicant with a FICO credit score in the 700–760 range. The resulting rಌates are representative of what customers should🍌 expect to see when receiving actual quotes from lenders based on their qualifications, which may vary from advertised teaser rates.

For our map of the best state rates, the low⛄est rate currently offered by a surveyed lender in that state is listed, assuming the same parameters of an 80% LTV and a credit score between 700–760.