{"id":72210,"date":"2025-07-18T08:56:21","date_gmt":"2025-07-18T08:56:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/72210\/"},"modified":"2025-07-18T08:56:21","modified_gmt":"2025-07-18T08:56:21","slug":"average-long-term-us-mortgage-rate-rises-to-6-75-second-straight-uptick-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/72210\/","title":{"rendered":"Average long-term US mortgage rate rises to 6.75%, second straight uptick"},"content":{"rendered":"

The average rate on a 30-year U.S. mortgage rose for the second week in a row, another setback for the U.S. housing market, which is mired in a sales slump as affordability constraints shut out prospective homebuyers.<\/p>\n


\n FILE – A for sale sign stands outside a residence in Niles, Ill., July 1, 2024. (AP Photo\/Nam Y. Huh, File)(AP\/Nam Y. Huh)<\/p>\n


\n FILE – A for sale sign stands outside a residence in Niles, Ill., July 1, 2024. (AP Photo\/Nam Y. Huh, File)(AP\/Nam Y. Huh)<\/p>\n

The average rate on a 30-year U.S. mortgage rose for the second week in a row, another setback for the U.S. housing market, which is mired in a sales slump<\/a> as affordability constraints shut out prospective homebuyers.<\/p>\n

The long-term rate ticked up to 6.75% from 6.72% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. A year ago, the rate averaged 6.77%.<\/p>\n

Borrowing costs on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, popular with homeowners refinancing their home loans, also rose. The average rate increased to 5.92% from 5.86% last week. A year ago, it was 6.05%, Freddie Mac said.<\/p>\n

When mortgage rates rise they can add hundreds of dollars a month in costs for borrowers and reduce their purchasing power. That\u2019s helped keep the U.S. housing market in a sales slump that dates back to 2022, when mortgage rates began to climb from the rock-bottom lows they reached during the pandemic.<\/p>\n

Last year, sales of previously occupied U.S. homes sank to their lowest level in nearly 30 years. They\u2019ve remained sluggish so far this year<\/a>, as many prospective homebuyers have been discouraged by elevated mortgage rates and home prices that have continued to climb, albeit more slowly.<\/p>\n

Mortgage rates are influenced by several factors, from the Federal Reserve\u2019s interest rate policy decisions<\/a> to bond market investors\u2019 expectations for the economy and inflation.<\/p>\n

The main barometer is the 10-year Treasury yield, which lenders use as a guide to pricing home loans. The yield was at 4.45% at midday Thursday, down from 4.46% late Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Yields have largely moved higher this month as traders bet that a better-than-expected June jobs report<\/a> could keep the Fed on hold when it comes to interest rates.<\/p>\n

Bond investors briefly drove longer-term yields higher Wednesday, after President Donald Trump said he had discussed the \u201cconcept\u201d of firing the chair of the Federal Reserve<\/a> but was unlikely to do so.<\/p>\n

The president has been calling for Powell to cut interest rates. A less independent Fed could mean lower short-term rates, but it could have the opposite effect on the longer-term bond yields that influence the rates on home loans.<\/p>\n

The average rate on a 30-year mortgage has remained relatively close to its high so far this year of just above 7%, set in mid-January. The 30-year rate\u2019s low point this year was in early April when it briefly dipped to 6.62%.<\/p>\n

The rise in mortgage rates appears to have discouraged some home shoppers. Mortgage applications fell 10% last week from a week earlier as higher rates and economic uncertainty dampened demand, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.<\/p>\n

Economists generally expect mortgage rates to stay relatively stable in the coming months, with forecasts calling for the average rate on a 30-year mortgage to remain in a range between 6% and 7% this year.<\/p>\n

While that would be roughly in line with the historical average rate on a 30-year mortgage, it\u2019s little comfort to many would-be homebuyers after years of soaring home prices.<\/p>\n

Consider, the U.S. median household annual income is about $80,000. But with a mortgage rate of 6.75%, a homebuyer would need an annual income of nearly $130,000 to be able to qualify for a loan to buy a median-priced U.S. home, notes Lisa Sturtevant, chief economist at Bright MLS.<\/p>\n

Elevated mortgage rates are also discouraging many homeowners who locked in mortgage rates well below where they are now from selling.<\/p>\n

The trends point to the U.S. housing market remaining in the doldrums this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat does this mean for the housing market in the second half of 2025? It is likely going to continue to be a slow market,\u201d Sturtevant said.<\/p>\n

Copyright
\n \u00a9\u00a02025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The average rate on a 30-year U.S. mortgage rose for the second week in a row, another setback…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":72211,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[64,79,14606,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-72210","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-economy","10":"tag-mortgage-rates","11":"tag-united-states","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72210","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72210"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72210\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}