http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/newsletter/n Mortgage Newsletters Archive https://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/newsletter/n/20260911 Fri, 11 Sep 2026 04:00:00 GMT Fri, 11 Sep 2026 04:00:00 GMT https://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/newsletter/n/20260911 Existing-home sales slipped in August, falling below the 4 million annualized pace for the first time since June 2025, while a sharp increase in inventory gave buyers more options and pushed the supply of homes to its highest level in more than a decade. The National Association of REALTORS® reported a 2.0% decline in sales from July to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.98 million , while sales were 1.2% lower than a year earlier. “ Mortgage rates and home sales move in opposite directions, so it's not surprising to see a mild dip in home buying activity due to high mortgage rates,” said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun. He noted that sales are still 1.6% higher year-to-date through the first eight months of the year, with wage growth and job creation helping to suppo Mortgage News Daily http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/rss/newsletter https://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/newsletter/n/20260910 Thu, 10 Sep 2026 04:00:00 GMT Thu, 10 Sep 2026 04:00:00 GMT https://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/newsletter/n/20260910 You may have seen other headlines today that reference 30yr fixed rates of 6.76%. Those stories would be citing Freddie Mac's weekly rate survey which is an average of the 5 business days (4 in this case, due to the holiday) ending yesterday (September 9th). Because of that methodology, the number lags reality. Today alone, the average lender moved up 0.125% in rate. In addition, Freddie no longer accounts for "points" (additional money paid upfront for a lower rate). In other words, 6.75% with one point is roughly the same rate as 7.00% with no points.  As a reminder, our daily rate index accounts for the impact of points so day to day comparisons are always apples to apples.  With all that in mind, today's average top-tier 30yr fixed rate is up to 7.07% from 6.97% yesterday and Mortgage News Daily http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/rss/newsletter https://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/newsletter/n/20260909 Wed, 09 Sep 2026 04:00:00 GMT Wed, 09 Sep 2026 04:00:00 GMT https://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/newsletter/n/20260909 What do mortgage rates have to do with Treasuries? Quite a lot, actually. U.S. Treasuries are the bills and bonds issued by the government. In addition to financing government spending, they are also the lifeblood of the financial system. Due to that central role, their liquidity, the immense size of the market, and because they're considered to be "risk free," Treasuries also serve as the baseline for most other interest rates in the U.S. This isn't to say that mortgage lenders simply look at Treasury yields plus a margin to set mortgage rates. But the trading value of Treasuries has a bearing on how mortgage-specific bonds trade. Put most simply, a mortgage bond buyer/seller compares returns between mortgage bonds and Treasuries to get an idea of the relative value of mortgage bo Mortgage News Daily http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/rss/newsletter https://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/newsletter/n/20260908 Tue, 08 Sep 2026 04:00:00 GMT Tue, 08 Sep 2026 04:00:00 GMT https://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/newsletter/n/20260908 Top tier 30yr fixed mortgage rates started the week right where they were on Friday for the average lender. At 6.89%, we're just a hair below the highest mark since June 2025. In general, rates have been increasing steadily since the Iran war ceasefire ended with the uptick frequently correlating with higher fuel prices. Today's "unchanged" rates require an asterisk. Although mortgage rates are based on bonds and although bonds move constantly throughout the day, mortgage lenders prefer to keep rate changes to a minimum--ideally once a day if the market remains calm enough. This means the bond market can "lead off" in one direction or the other before most mortgage lenders go to the trouble of making mid-day changes. In today's case, bonds have been taking a lead-off in the direct Mortgage News Daily http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/rss/newsletter https://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/newsletter/n/20260904 Fri, 04 Sep 2026 04:00:00 GMT Fri, 04 Sep 2026 04:00:00 GMT https://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/newsletter/n/20260904 Mortgage rates have a long and storied past with the monthly jobs report. Officially titled "The Employment Situation," the Bureau of Labor Statistics' (BLS) jobs report has more power than any other monthly economic report to cause volatility in the rate market over the years. It may have lost some of that capability over the past few years, but it's always worthy of respect. With that in mind, it was an ominous sign for rates when this morning's jobs data came in MUCH stronger than expected. BLS counted 162k new jobs created compared to a median forecast of 56k. On many occasions in the past, the result of such a "beat" would have been a substantial increase in mortgage rates. These days, however, the job count carries a bit less weight than it used to for a variety of reasons. Mortgage News Daily http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/rss/newsletter https://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/newsletter/n/20260903 Thu, 03 Sep 2026 04:00:00 GMT Thu, 03 Sep 2026 04:00:00 GMT https://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/newsletter/n/20260903 Mortgage rates finally had a decent day on Thursday after spending the previous three days inching into the highest levels in more than a year. Part of the improvement was due to comments from Fed Governor Chris Waller who said that it wouldn't be necessary to hike rates at the next meeting unless inflation data surprises to the upside. Before that, the underlying bond market was already showing some resilience in overnight trading. The prevailing pattern has been a fairly reliable correlation between bond yields and oil prices. But this time around, yields held fairly steady in the overnight session even though oil prices moved higher. Mortgage rates are based on bonds, and mortgage-specific bonds correlate almost flawlessly with 5-10yr U.S. Treasuries on any given day. The net e Mortgage News Daily http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/rss/newsletter https://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/newsletter/n/20260902 Wed, 02 Sep 2026 04:00:00 GMT Wed, 02 Sep 2026 04:00:00 GMT https://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/newsletter/n/20260902 First things first: when we reference average, daily, top-tier 30yr fixed rates, it is for an ideal scenario that rarely exists in the wild. The average scenario will always involve slightly higher effective rates (i.e. even if the rate is the same as national averages, it would involve additional upfront costs). As a reminder, our daily rate index accounts for upfront costs whereas Freddie Mac's weekly survey rate does not. MBA's weekly rate survey collects separate answers for rates vs upfront costs. Bottom line, while the daily index rose into the 6.9's today for the first time in more than year, many borrowers are already seeing rates at 7% or higher. [thirtyyearmortgagerates] Mortgage News Daily http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/rss/newsletter https://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/newsletter/n/20260901 Tue, 01 Sep 2026 04:00:00 GMT Tue, 01 Sep 2026 04:00:00 GMT https://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/newsletter/n/20260901 Fighting intensified today between the U.S. and Iran. Oil prices moved higher fairly quickly and bond yields followed. This has been a common pattern during the Iran war as higher oil prices imply higher inflation which, in turn, implies higher yields/rates. Yesterday's average top-tier 30yr fixed rate hit the highest levels since June 2025. Today's increase was modest in the bigger picture. At 6.89%, we're still well below that June 2025 high of 6.97%.  [thirtyyearmortgagerates] Mortgage News Daily http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/rss/newsletter https://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/newsletter/n/20260831 Mon, 31 Aug 2026 04:00:00 GMT Mon, 31 Aug 2026 04:00:00 GMT https://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/newsletter/n/20260831 Bonds lost ground today, largely due to mechanical, month-end trading (i.e. not due to economic data, inflation, or news headlines). When bonds lose ground, rates rise, all else equal. Mortgage rates were already fairly close to longer-term highs last week. Today's increase was just enough to nudge the average top-tier 30yr fixed rate to 6.87%--the highest since June 2025. While that sounds fairly gloomy, the average borrower wouldn't see any difference from those seen on July 23rd, 2026. [thirtyyearmortgagerates] Mortgage News Daily http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/rss/newsletter https://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/newsletter/n/20260828 Fri, 28 Aug 2026 04:00:00 GMT Fri, 28 Aug 2026 04:00:00 GMT https://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/newsletter/n/20260828 Mortgage application activity softened last week, with both purchase and refinance demand moving lower as mortgage rates climbed to their highest level in three weeks. The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reported a 1.0% decrease in total application volume on a seasonally adjusted basis for the week ending August 21. Purchase applications were down 0.3% from the previous week on a seasonally adjusted basis and 5% below the same week one year ago. FHA applications accounted for much of the weekly decline, falling 7% . Refinance demand also lost some ground. The Refinance Index fell 2% from the previous week and remained 17% below year-ago levels. FHA and VA refinance applications saw particularly notable declines, while the average refinance loan size fell to its Mortgage News Daily http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/rss/newsletter