Borrowing costs rise just as spring demand gains traction
Average US mortgage rates moved higher again this week, nudging borrowing costs back toward the mid‑6% range.
Freddie Mac’s latest Primary Mortgage Market Survey showed the 30‑year fixed‑rate mortgage averaged 6.30% as of April 30, up from 6.23% a week earlier and down from 6.76% a year ago.
Behind the headline move, the shift ended a three‑week slide that has briefly taken rates to their lowest levels of the season.
The 15‑year fixed‑rate mortgage, a popular choice for refinancers, also climbed, averaging 5.64% compared with 5.58% last week and 5.92% a year earlier, according to Freddie Mac.
“As rates had modestly declined the last few weeks, purchase demand has accelerated with purchase applications rising to over 20 percent above a year ago. It is clear that purchase demand continues to hold up as prospective buyers react to both modestly lower rates and more inventory to choose from than the last few years,” said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist.
Freddie Mac’s benchmark rate remains in line with other market trackers that have kept the typical 30‑year loan in the low‑to‑mid‑6% band for much of 2026, even as the Federal Reserve held its policy rate steady and 10‑year Treasury yields hovered around the mid‑4% range.
Mortgage rates continue to take lenders' cues from bond‑market expectations for inflation, growth and the ongoing conflict in the Middle East rather than from any single Fed meeting.
In fact, amid the consecutive dips in rates in the past weeks, Amir Nurani, broker-owner at Left Coast Leaders, expected rates to go back up if the hostilities pick back up.
“As I'm talking to clients, one of the things I've told clients when this thing started heating up, especially for clients that are thinking about refinancing, is right now you're seeing rates elevated. Once you see resolution overseas, rates will instantly go back down. You’re seeing rates come down right now because we have a pause. The market is optimistic that we are going to see a resolution," Nurani told Mortgage Professional America.
“But in two weeks' time, I don't think we're going to see that resolution. I think what you're going to see with mortgage rates is, over the next week, you will see them start to creep back up, if news doesn't come out that talks are going in the right direction.”
Meanwhile, borrowers’ have a renewed sensitivity to moves toward the high‑5s, even as many accept that a 6% handle is the new normal.
“I mean, at the very macro level, there's a lot of pent-up demand,” Tushar Garg, CEO and co‑founder of Flyhomes, told Mortgage Professional America in March.
“We have seen, at least in our data, that every time the rates drop, the demand goes up. That shows that there's a lot of pent-up demand, which is quite sensitive to the overall rates.”
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