Mortgage Rates Today: The 30-Year Tops 7% for the First Time in 20 Months
- 🔑 Freddie Mac’s weekly survey put the 30-year fixed mortgage rate at 7.03% for the week ending September 24, 2026, up from 6.95% the prior week and the first reading above 7% since January 2025 — a gap of about 20 months. The 15-year fixed averaged 6.42%, up from 6.26%.
- The move follows the Federal Reserve’s September 16, 2026 decision to raise its target interest-rate range by a quarter point to 3.75%-4%, the first increase since 2023, on a unanimous vote — mortgage rates track long-term Treasury yields, not the Fed’s rate, directly.
- Day-to-day rate trackers, which use different methods than Freddie Mac’s official survey and can run higher, showed the 30-year climbing further through the following days, with figures in the low-to-mid 7% range and one tracker approaching 7.5% by Friday, September 25, 2026.
- The 10-year Treasury yield, which mortgage rates track most closely, traded above 5% in the days following the Fed’s decision — a level not reached in roughly two decades — as bond markets priced in higher inflation expectations.
- This is the same story drawpie covered on September 4, 2026, when political pressure was building for lower rates and the 30-year stood at 6.71%; twelve days later the Fed raised rates instead of cutting them.
- A year earlier, the 30-year fixed averaged about 6.30% and the 15-year about 5.49% — a jump of more than 70 basis points on the 30-year over twelve months, with no forecast here of where the rate goes next.
Freddie Mac’s weekly survey put the 30-year fixed mortgage rate at 7.03% for the week ending Thursday, September 24, 2026 — the first time the benchmark rate has closed above 7% since January 2025, a gap of about 20 months. The move followed the Federal Reserve’s decision eight days earlier to raise its target interest rate for the first time since 2023, and several independent day-to-day rate trackers show the climb continuing into the following weekend. Here is what the numbers actually say, and what they don’t.
What did Freddie Mac’s mortgage survey show this week?
Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey, released Thursday, September 24, 2026, put the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage at 7.03%, up from 6.95% a week earlier. The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.42%, up from 6.26%. Both are up sharply from roughly a year earlier, when the 30-year stood near 6.30% and the 15-year near 5.49%.
| Week of | 30-year | 15-year |
|---|---|---|
| Sept 24, 2026 | 7.03% | 6.42% |
| Sept 17, 2026 | 6.95% | 6.26% |
| ~Sept 2025 | 6.30% | 5.49% |
The survey is based on mortgage applications submitted to lenders nationwide and is published every Thursday. It’s the reference figure the housing industry uses to describe “the” mortgage rate at a given moment, as distinct from same-day online rate quotes, which can run higher or lower depending on a borrower’s credit and the specific lender.
Why did mortgage rates cross 7%?
Mortgage rates crossed 7% because the long-term Treasury yields they track have climbed sharply since the Federal Reserve’s September 16, 2026 meeting. The Fed raised its target federal funds rate range by a quarter point, to 3.75%-4%, its first increase since 2023. Bond market data showed the 10-year Treasury yield — the benchmark mortgage rates follow most closely — trading above 5% in the days that followed, a level not reached in roughly two decades. Market commentary also pointed to elevated global oil prices, amid supply disruptions tied to conflict in the Middle East this month, as a factor feeding broader inflation expectations on top of the Fed’s own shift.
It’s worth being precise about the mechanism: mortgage rates do not move in lockstep with the Fed’s overnight rate. They follow the 10-year Treasury yield, which reflects investor expectations for inflation and growth over the life of a loan — which is why a Fed increase and a mortgage-rate increase can show up in the same stretch without one mechanically causing the other day to day, as we explained after the Fed’s last meeting, in July .
How does this connect to the push for lower rates?
This is the same rate story we’ve been following, and it just took the opposite turn from what was being demanded. On September 4, 2026, we covered a public push for sharply lower interest rates , when the 30-year fixed rate stood at 6.71%. Twelve days later, the Fed raised its target range instead of cutting it. The 30-year has now risen more than 30 basis points since that piece published.
Are day-to-day rates still moving?
Yes — several day-to-day rate trackers, which use different methodologies than Freddie Mac’s official weekly survey and can run higher, showed the 30-year rate climbing further into the following weekend. By Saturday, September 26, 2026, multiple trackers put the 30-year in the low-to-mid 7% range, with one widely used tracker’s estimate approaching 7.5% the day before. These daily figures are less authoritative than Freddie Mac’s weekly print — some quote an APR that bundles in fees, and single-day readings can swing on ordinary bond-market trading — but the direction across trackers was consistent: higher, not lower, through the end of the week.
How does this compare with a year ago?
Rates are meaningfully higher than a year earlier, when the 30-year fixed averaged about 6.30% and the 15-year averaged about 5.49%. That’s a jump of more than 70 basis points on the 30-year and nearly a full point on the 15-year over twelve months — the kind of move that changes a monthly payment by real money on a typical loan, regardless of which direction rates head from here.
What does this mean right now?
We don’t know where the 30-year rate goes from its current level, and this page won’t guess — it’s a snapshot, not a prediction. What’s confirmed as of Sunday morning, September 27, 2026: Freddie Mac’s official weekly figure is 7.03%, the highest reading in about 20 months, and it arrived after a Fed rate increase rather than a cut. If you’re shopping a mortgage or weighing whether to lock a rate, treat the numbers above as dated on purpose — check Freddie Mac’s own survey for whatever week you’re reading this before acting on it.