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Posted on 09/30/2026 1:52:29 PM PDT by Angelino97
Mortgage rates continued to climb for the sixth straight week, reaching the highest level since November 2023. That caused weekly demand to drop 6%, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s seasonally adjusted index.
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances, $832,750 or less, increased last week to 7.30% from 7.12%, with points rising to 0.75 from 0.73, including the origination fee, for loans with a 20% down payment.
Refinance demand has been hit hardest, given that so few borrowers can now benefit at today’s higher interest rates. Applications to refinance a home loan dropped 9% for the week and were 56% lower than the same week one year ago. The refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to 38.3% of total applications from 39.3% the previous week.
“Government refinances declined 13 percent, with both FHA and VA applications experiencing double digit decreases over the week,” said Joel Kan, an MBA economist, in a release.
Applications for a mortgage to purchase a home fell 4% for the week and were 14% lower than the same week one year ago. Borrowers not only saw rates rise, but home prices are still experiencing gains from a year ago, and, nationally at least, those gains are accelerating.
Prices in July rose 1.9% nationally compared with July 2025, according to the S&P Cotality Case-Shiller index. That is up from a 1.6% annual gain in June. Buyers are looking for savings anywhere they can find them, even in riskier mortgages.
Adjustable-rate mortgage “loans, with rates around 80 basis points lower than fixed rate loans, accounted for 10.3 percent of applications, the highest share since October 2025,” said Kan.
Rates continued to increase to start this week, with the average on the 30-year fixed hitting 7.58%, according to Mortgage News Daily.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnbc.com ...
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I don’t consider 7% mortgages as “high”. I’d call it the norm over the last 50 years.
“I don’t consider 7% mortgages as “high”. I’d call it the norm over the last 50 years.”
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Our first mortgage was 13.8% I thought we’d hit the jackpot when I refinanced at 12%
Mine was about the same. I refinanced at 8%
Granted, $50,000 at 6% over 30 years will cost a lot more than 5 years but at least the house will appreciate whereas the truck will depreciate.
Still, it would be nice if interest rates were lower but considering all the building going on around here suggests to me that 6% is not that bad.
We refinanced our current house at 7% about 15 years ago.
The 9 trillion dollars the fed printed for Biden eventually ended up in the stock market and real estate. 7% is not a historically bad loan but $750K for a 1500 square foot house is. It used to be easier to make homes affordable by monkeying with the rate but it seems printing all that money hurt home buyers on both ends.
What matters most is what the largest voting block thinks about mortgage rates. Will see who that is.
Housing prices rise. That’s why they call it an investment...with benefits I might add.
The only way it could be worse if we try to tell people how great they have it right now.
Surely, no one is dumb enough to do that.
That voting block has to be middle class...and last time I looked...husband and wife were working. They had two cars 4 TV’s a pool and 2 kids, eat well and they spend their monies with a tad in savings. I’m just not seeing people struggling. Here in NYS, there are all kinds of benefits for the poor.
Translation...
Joe Biden caused even higher rates!
Then, first time home buyer in 1987 with a "good rate" mortgage for 11%.
Remember.....high rates prices drop. Low rates, prices inflate and property taxes explode.
I'll take my high interest rates on mortgages every time. It's one of the last tax write-offs you get.
It’s shelter. As an investment it’s expensive with high carrying costs. Insurance, property taxes, repairs and the mortgage costs. The S&P 500 index fund at 2 bps is an investment.
Our first one was 10%. We redid our current one a couple years ago at 2.87%. 😁👍🇺🇸
I re-fied at the absolute bottom, 1.86% on a 20-year.
But then I see they sneak in fees and others to get more money. So I’m paying it off asap. Only 38K left.
“The citizens must continue to be punished until they have proven their obedience to the Global planners, by voting correctly.”
I do agree - *historically* - you’re absolutely right.
But it’s not a simple equation.
The problem is the treasury (specifically, since mortgage rates are predicated on the 10 yr) spikes.
I think we’re on the cusp of a straight arrow up, not a transient problem.
Bessent is throwing the kitchen sink at long-term treasuries and actually, so is the Fed. It’s just not working.
I had a rather sober conversation with a friend of my son’s at a wedding a month or so ago — at the time, he was on the fence about locking in a 30 yr at around 6.7%. My advice to him? Do it now. Do it tonight. In 6 months? You’ll be pining for 7%. In a year? You’ll be asking if 8% is bad.
The macro data simply says we’re at the start - not the peak - of things getting bad.
I should reach out to my son - it was his friend - to see if he locked in or not. Just like anyone, I’m only using past data and basic macro so I don’t know what the future holds.
But so far - granted, just a month or so later? It’s tracking...
In other words, mortgage rates are right around the 50-year average. We are suffering from recency bias with the exceptionally low rates of the past 15 years or so, and anchoring that as the ‘norm’.
GO BACK & REVIEW CARTER’S INTEREST RATES———
EXCEPT UNDER CARTER
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