Overview
- Freddie Mac's weekly Primary Mortgage Market Survey, released Thursday, recorded the average 30-year fixed rate at 7.03 percent after five straight weeks of increases.
- Real-time daily measures and lender price screens showed sharper moves with Mortgage News Daily's index and some lender quotes spiking into the mid‑7 percent range, roughly 7.3–7.55 percent on Thursday.
- The jump in mortgage costs has followed a surge in the 10-year Treasury yield to about 5.1 percent, which investors pushed higher as oil prices rose because of the Iran war and as the Federal Reserve signaled further rate tightening.
- Higher rates are already reducing affordability: mortgage applications fell, the adjustable‑rate mortgage share rose to about 9.8 percent as buyers seek lower initial payments, and many owners remain locked into much lower pandemic-era rates.
- Analysts say rates are likely to stay elevated unless Treasury yields or inflation ease, so buyers should plan for continued price and rate volatility and tighter purchasing power in the months ahead.