30-Year Mortgage Rates Plummet—Wiping Out 3-Day Surge in Stunning Reversal (July 30, 2025)

Boomer loans catch a break as 30-year mortgages nosedive—erasing last week’s gains faster than a meme stock crash.

The whiplash effect: Lenders scramble to adjust pricing after Treasury yields play hopscotch. Refi applications might spike… if anyone still owns real estate.

Behind the swing: Fed chair’s cryptic breakfast comments triggered algo-driven panic buying of bonds. Classic ‘buy the rumor, sell the news’—except the rumor was about avocado toast inflation.

Pro tip: Lock your rate before Wall Street remembers housing is technically a liability. (But hey, at least it’s not crypto volatility—wait, wrong audience.)

Today's New Purchase Mortgage Rate Averages

Rates on new 30-year mortgages dropped 5 basis points Tuesday, fully backtracking on a previous three-day climb. The current average of 6.86% is down from the one-month high of 6.91%.

Today's 30-year mortgage rates are notably improved vs. six weeks ago, when they surged to 7.15%, their most expensive level in a year. Current rates are also well below the historic peak of 8.01% in late 2023, a 23-year high.

However, mortgage rates were much more affordable for homebuyers last fall, when the 30-year average dropped to 5.89%, a two-year low.

Rates on 15-year mortgages also subtracted 5 basis points Tuesday, for a new average of 5.88%. That's substantially lower than in the spring, when 15-year rates shot up to 6.31% in mid-April. And rates are 1.2 percentage points cheaper than the 7.08% peak in October 2023, the highest in 23 years. However, on June 30, the 15-year average fell to a four-month low of 5.70%, and last September, rates sank as far as 4.97%, their lowest level in two years.

Jumbo 30-year mortgage rates slipped 4 basis points, for a Tuesday average of 6.81%. That's a bit above July 1's 6.74% reading, the lowest level for jumbo 30-year loans since March—still an improvement vs. the 8.14% peak in October 2023, the highest jumbo rate in over 20 years. Last fall, however, jumbo 30-year rates fell to a 19-month low of 6.24%.

The Weekly Freddie Mac Average

Every Thursday, Freddie Mac, a government-sponsored buyer of mortgage loans, publishes a weekly average of 30-year mortgage rates. Last week's reading dipped 1 basis point to 6.74%, which is 7 basis points above the three-month low registered in early July. It's also significantly higher than the two-year low of 6.08% reached last September. However, in October 2023, Freddie Mac’s average surged to a historic 7.79%, the highest in 23 years.

Freddie Mac’s average differs from ours because it calculates a weekly average based on the past five days of rates, while our Investopedia 30-year average reflects daily rates, providing a more precise and timely gauge of rate movement. Additionally, Freddie Mac’s methodology includes different loan criteria—such as down payment amount, credit score, and the inclusion of discount points—compared to our own.

Calculate monthly payments for different loan scenarios with our Mortgage Calculator.

Important

The rates we publish are averages and won't directly compare to the teaser rates often advertised online. Those rates are typically cherry-picked to be the most attractive and may involve paying points upfront or be based on a hypothetical borrower with an ultra-high credit score or a smaller-than-typical loan. The rate you actually secure will depend on factors like your credit score, income, and more, so it may differ from the averages you see here.

What Causes Mortgage Rates to Rise or Fall?

Mortgage rates are influenced by a mix of macroeconomic factors and industry dynamics, including:

• The level and direction of the bond market, particularly 10-year Treasury yields
• The Federal Reserve's monetary policy, especially regarding bond buying and funding government-backed mortgages
• Competition among mortgage lenders and across different loan types

These factors can all fluctuate simultaneously, making it difficult to pinpoint the exact cause of rate changes.

In 2021, macroeconomic conditions kept mortgage rates relatively low, with the Federal Reserve buying billions of dollars in bonds to counteract the pandemic's economic effects. This bond-buying policy was a key driver of mortgage rates during that time.

However, starting in November 2021, the Fed began reducing its bond purchases, tapering down until reaching zero in March 2022. Then, from 2022 to 2023, the Fed aggressively raised the federal funds rate to combat decades-high inflation.

While the fed funds rate can influence mortgage rates, it doesn't do so directly. In fact, the fed funds rate and mortgage rates can sometimes 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—mortgage rates surged during this period, reflecting the Ripple effects of the Fed's dramatic campaign.

The Fed maintained the federal funds rate at its peak level for almost 14 months, beginning in July 2023. But last September, the central bank announced a first rate cut of 0.50 percentage points, and then followed that with quarter-point reductions in November and December.

So far this year, the Fed has held rates steady through five meetings, with a first 2025 reduction not expected until September at the earliest. The Fed's quarterly forecast released in mid-June indicated a median prediction of two quarter-point rate cuts by the end of the year, with the Fed's next quarterly forecast scheduled for Sept. 17.

How We Track Mortgage Rates

The national and state averages cited above are provided as is via the Zillow Mortgage API, assuming a loan-to-value (LTV) ratio of 80% (i.e., a down payment of at least 20%) and an applicant credit score in the 680–739 range. The resulting rates represent what borrowers should expect when receiving quotes from lenders based on their qualifications, which may vary from advertised teaser rates. © Zillow, Inc., 2025. Use is subject to the Zillow Terms of Use.