Mortgage rate surveys show further climb past 7.3% this week
Money.com's survey put the 30-year fixed rate at 7.44% on October 5, extending a rise that has run for six straight weeks.
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Chart: US 30-year fixed mortgage rate
Mortgage rates kept climbing into October. The Mortgage Bankers Association's weekly survey, covering the week ending September 25, showed the 30-year fixed rate at 7.3%, up from 7.12% the week before. MBA economist Joel Kan said that was the sixth consecutive weekly increase and the highest rate since November 2023.
Money.com's own rate survey, taken separately from MBA's, put the 30-year fixed rate at 7.44% as of October 5, up 0.11 percentage points, and said other surveys were showing 30-year rates above 7.5%.
Applications have been falling as rates rise. MBA's data for the week ending September 25 showed overall mortgage applications down 6%, with refinance applications down 9% and purchase applications down 4%. The week before that, applications had already fallen 1.5% as the rate rose to 7.12%, according to HousingWire, with the share of adjustable-rate mortgages rising to 9.8% of applications.
MBA and Fannie Mae have both cut their forecasts for mortgage originations, HousingWire reported. MBA now projects $2.101 trillion in 2027 originations, down from its August forecast of $2.144 trillion, citing expectations of two more Fed rate increases over the next 12 months as inflation stays above the 2% target.
The continued rise suggests the move to 7.3% in late September was not a peak but part of a sustained tightening in credit conditions for housing. With applications already falling sharply as rates approached that level, a further climb points to deeper erosion in purchase and refinance demand, with knock-on effects for homebuilders, mortgage originators and related consumer spending. That the increase has persisted despite shifting expectations for Fed policy suggests financial conditions in housing remain restrictive regardless of what the central bank signals next, keeping pressure on rate-sensitive parts of the market.