Mortgage Rates Rise Ahead Of Fed Cut

Image by PM Images/Getty Images; Illustration by Hunter Newton/Bankrate

Current mortgage rates

The 30-year fixed mortgages in this week’s survey had an average total of 0.31 discount and origination points. Discount points are a way to lower your mortgage rate, while origination points are fees lenders charge to create, review and process your loan.

Shop smarter for mortgage rates

Bankrate connects you to the latest lender offers, tailored to you. Find your low rate today.

Explore mortgage rates

Monthly mortgage payment at today’s rates

The national median family income for 2025 is $104,200, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the median price of an existing home sold in October 2025 was $415,200, according to the National Association of Realtors. Based on a 20% down payment and a 6.34% mortgage rate, the monthly payment of $2,065 amounts to about 24% of the typical family’s monthly income.

“With more housing inventory coming online and home prices starting to level off, this remains a promising environment for those looking to buy or refinance,” says Samir Dedhia, CEO of One Real Mortgage.  

What will happen to mortgage rates in the rest of 2025?

The Federal Reserve cut rates Wednesday for the third time this year, trimming its benchmark rate in its final meeting of 2025. The Fed’s latest announcement bought a reduction of a quarter-point. Even though that cut was widely expected, mortgage rates rose, according to Bankrate’s national survey of lenders. However, they’re not too far off the recent low of 6.25%.

Fixed mortgage rates are not set directly by the Fed but by investor appetite, particularly for 10-year Treasury bonds. When there’s uncertainty in the market, investors buy Treasury bonds, which in turn drives yields — and, often, mortgage rates — downward.

But don’t expect significant reductions in mortgage rates — most housing economists expect rates to hold above 6%. “Our forecast is for mortgage rates to stay within a fairly narrow range over the next few years,” says Mike Fratantoni, chief economist at the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Meanwhile, the U.S. economy seems to be losing steam. President Donald Trump’s tariff policies have been blamed for an increase in inflation, which moved up to 3% in September, making little progress toward the Fed’s inflation target of 2%. The 10-year Treasury yield was at 4.17% as of Wednesday afternoon, up from about 4.06% a week earlier.

• Methodology
  

  The Bankrate.com national survey of large lenders is conducted weekly. To conduct the National Average survey, Bankrate obtains rate information from the 10 largest banks and thrifts in 10 large U.S. markets. In the Bankrate.com national survey, our Market Analysis team gathers rates and/or yields on banking deposits, loans and mortgages. We’ve conducted this survey in the same manner for more than 30 years, and because it’s consistently done the way it is, it gives an accurate national apples-to-apples comparison. Our rates differ from other national surveys, in particular Freddie Mac’s weekly published rates. Each week Freddie Mac surveys lenders on the rates and points based on first-lien prime conventional conforming home purchase mortgages with a loan-to-value of 80 percent. “Lenders surveyed each week are a mix of lender types — thrifts, credit unions, commercial banks and mortgage lending companies — is roughly proportional to the level of mortgage business that each type commands nationwide,” according to Freddie Mac.