Thirty-year mortgage rates have dropped for a seventh straight day, and Thursday's decline takes the average down to 6.94%. This marks only the third time the flagship average has been below 7% in 2024. Rates were also down for most other loan types as well on Thursday.

Because rates vary widely across lenders, it's always smart to shop around for your best mortgage option and compare rates regularly, no matter the 🌺type of home loan 💖you're seeking.

Today's Mortgage Rate Averages: New Purchase

Rates on 30-year new purchase mortgages dropped another 3 basis points on Thursday, lowering the 30-year average by a quarter of a percent over the last seven market days. Thursday's 6.94% average marks only the fifth time since May 2023 that rates have been in the 6% range, following Wednesday's initial dip for the month below the 7% threshold. Yesterday's decline takes the 30-year rates even further below the historic 23-year peak of 8.45% they registered in October.

Rates on 15-year new purchase loans dropped even more Thursday. Falling 6 basis points, the 15-year average is down to 6.24%. That remains 14 basis points above the seven-m🅺onth low of 6.10% seen late in December. But back in October, 15-year rates soared to a 7.59% peak, the most expensive level s✤ince 2000.

After dropping by about an eighth of a percent to reach a two-week low on Wednesday, jumbo 30-year rates remained flat Thursday at 6.45%. Though daily historical jumbo rates are not available before 2009, it's estimated the 7.52% peak reached in October was the most expensive jumbo 30-year average in more than 20 years.

Most rates declined on Thursday, with the larges❀t movements being in the 7/6 and 10/6 ARM rates, which dropped 20 and 19🌱 basis points, respectively. The only rate that moved up yesterday was the 5/6 ARM, which posted an 8 basis point increase.

This Week's Freddie Mac Average

Every Thursday, Freddie Mac publishes a weekly average of 30-year mortgage rates, and this week's reading dipped to 6.63%. Back in late October, Freddie Mac's average reached a historic peak of 7.79%—its most expensive level in 23 years. But in the three months since, the Freddie Mac 30-year average has fallen more than a full percentage point.

Freddie Mac’s average differs from our own 30-year average for two notable reasons. First, Freddie Mac calculates a weekly average that blends five previous days of rates, while our Investopedia averages are daily, offering a more precise and timely indicator of rate movement. Second, the rates included in Freddie Mac's survey can include loans priced with 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:discount points, w🍎hile Investopedi🌞a’s averages only include zero-point loans.

Today's Mortgage Rate Averages: Refinancing

Refinancing rates moved a bit more aggressively compared with new purchase rates on Thursday, with the 30-🧸year refi average declining a bold 16 basis points to 7.39%. The gap between 30-year new purchase and refi rates narrowed to 45 basis points. The 15-year refi average fell 7 points, and the jumbo 30-year refi average remained unchanged. The 15-year jumbo rate decline🧔d by 12 basis points, however.

Thursday's largest refi rate mover was the 7/6 ARM, whose average dropped 27 basis points. All refi averages moved lower or were flat except the VA 30-year average, which moved up by 9 basis points.

Calculate monthly payments for different loan scenarios with our 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Mortgage Calculator.

Lowest Mortgage Rates by State

The lowest mortgage rates available vary depending on the state where originations occur. Mortgage rates can be influenced by state-level variations in credit score, average mortgage loan type, and size, in addition to individual lenders' varying risk management strategies.

The states with the cheapest 30-year new purchase rates were Mississippi, Vermont, Iowa, and Louisiana, while the states with the most expensive rates were Nevada, Oregon, Minnesota, Washington, Georgia, and Ariꦓzona.

What Causes Mortgage Rates to Rise or Fall?

Mortgage rates are determined by a complex interaꦏction of macroeconomic and industry factors, such as:

• The level and direction of the bond market, especially 10-year Treasury yields
• The Federal Reserve's current monetary policy, especially as it relates to bond buying and funding government-backed mortgages
• Competition between mortgage lenders and across loan types

Because fluctuations can be caused by any number of these at once, it's generally difficult to attribute the change to any one factor.

Macroeconomic factors kept the mortgage market relatively low for much of 2021. In particular, the Federal Reserve had been buying billions of dollars of bonds in response to the pandemic's economic pressures. This 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:bond-buying policy is a major influencer of mortgage rates.

But starting in November 2021, the Fed began tapering its bond purchases downward, making sizable reductions each month until reaching net zero in March 2022.

Between that time and July 2023, the Fed aggressively raised the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:federal funds rate to fight decades-high inflation. Wཧhile the fed funds rate can influence mortgage rates, it does not directly do so. In fact, the fed funds rate and mortgage rates can move in opposite directions.

But given the historic speed and magnitude of the Fed's 2022 and 2023 rate increases—raising the benchmark rate 5.25 percentage points over 16 months—even the indirect influence of the fed funds rate has resulted in a dramatic upward impact on mortgage rates over the last two years.

The Fed has opted to hold rates steady at its last four meetings, the last of which concluded Wednesday. Though the central bank's statement signaled that we have almost certainly reached the end of Fed rate hikes in this campaign, Fed Chair 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Jerome Powell stated that inflation is still too high and they will therefore proceed cautiously on deciding 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:when to make the first rate cut. Specifically, he indicated it's unlikely they will be ready for any rate💫 reduction by the time of their next meeting, which is scheduled for March 19-20.

After its December meeting, the Fed released quarterly data that showed almost 80% of Fed members expect there to be two to four rate cuts in 2024, with the median expectation being three rate decreases totaling 0.75%. But when in 2024 these will begin—and ultimately how many are implemented this year—is an open ꦰquestion at this time.

How We Track Mortgage Rates

The national averages cited above were calculated based on the lowest rate offered by more than 200 of the country's top lenders, assuming a 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:loan-to-value ratio (LTV) of 80% and an applicant with a FICO credit score in the 700–760 range. The resulting rates are representative of what customers should expect to see whe💝n receiving actual quotes from lenders based on their qualifications, which may vary from advertised teaser rates.

For our map of the best state rates, the lowest rate currently offeredꦕ by a surveyed lender in that state is listed, assuming the same parameters of an 80% LTV and a credit score between 700–760.