Mortgage rates in the US climbed to the highest level in more than a year as government-bond yields climbed, dealing another blow to the domestic housing market.
The average for a 30-year, fixed loan rose to 6.71% from 6.66% a week earlier, Freddie Mac said in a statement Thursday. The rate was 6.5% a year ago and borrowing costs haven't been as expensive since July 2025.
The rate, which has hovered around 6.5%, is now lurching toward 7%, threatening to further erode affordability, an issue front and center ahead of midterm elections in November.
“A year ago at this time, rates were declining, so that year-over-year comparison might just get uglier in the coming months,” said Realtor.com senior economist Jake Krimmel in a report published Wednesday.
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The increase in mortgage rates closely tracks what's happening with US Treasuries, as the yield on the 10-year government note peaked Wednesday at 4.82%, the highest since October 2023. Long-term Treasury yields are enduring their longest stretch at these levels since 2006, with a gaping budget deficit, another wave of corporate issuance and a potentially decisive Federal Reserve meeting keeping investors wary of US debt.
While the selloff sweeping global bond markets may be painful, the damage is nowhere near the rout of four years ago, when soaring inflation forced central banks to rapidly raise interest rates.
Still, higher financing costs are taking their toll on homebuyer demand. The share of pending sales in August fell 0.2% from a year ago, the first negative readout since November 2025, according to Realtor.com's latest monthly housing market trends report.
“It looks like August was the month where higher mortgage rates really caught up to housing demand,” Krimmel said.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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