Mortgage Rates Dip, But Still North Of 6.5%

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Current mortgage rates

The 30-year fixed mortgages in this week’s survey had an average total of 0.34 discount and origination points. Discount points are a way to lower your mortgage rate, while origination points are fees lenders charge to create, review and process your loan.

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Monthly mortgage payment at today’s rates

The national median family income for 2026 is $106,800, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the median price of an existing home sold in April 2026 was $417,700, according to the National Association of Realtors. Based on a 20% down payment and a 6.56% mortgage rate, the monthly principal and interest payment of $2,125 amounts to about 24% of the typical family’s monthly income.

Meanwhile, home prices have begun to dip in many formerly hot markets. Half of the nation’s 50 largest metro areas experienced price declines over the past year, Zillow reported in early February. Separately, the S&P Cotality Case-Shiller index released May 26 showed national home prices grew just 0.7% in the past year. That was the weakest showing since 2011, when prices fell 3.9%.

“More than half of the 20 major U.S. housing markets recorded year-over-year price declines in March, reflecting a broadening and deepening housing slowdown,” said Nicholas Godec of the S&P Dow Jones Indices.  

What will happen to mortgage rates in the rest of 2026?

The Federal Reserve has opted to hold its benchmark rate steady at recent meetings. Rising inflation has been the main driver of higher mortgage rates — the April consumer price index was up 3.8% from a year earlier, well above the Fed’s 2% target. Oil prices have spiked amid the conflict in Iran, pushing inflation up and lifting mortgage rates from their 2026 low of 6.09%.

Housing economists no longer expect mortgage rates to fall below 6% in the near future, a reality that’s affecting home sales. Stuck mortgage rates, elevated home prices and persistent inflation are likely to push the brakes further on home sales.

“Buyers are rejecting current price tags, but sellers refuse to offer steep discounts. The result is a standoff,” says Thom Malone, principal economist at Cotality. “Monthly price growth in March was the slowest since 2019. Sales were also low, indicating that sellers are still waiting for the rest of the economy to catch up with the housing market. Still, the modest appreciation points away from any immediate price drops and signals that buyers might be the ones who end up giving the most ground.”

• Methodology
  

  The Bankrate.com national survey of large lenders is conducted weekly. To conduct the National Average survey, Bankrate obtains rate information from the 10 largest banks and thrifts in 10 large U.S. markets. In the Bankrate.com national survey, our Market Analysis team gathers rates and/or yields on banking deposits, loans and mortgages. We’ve conducted this survey in the same manner for more than 30 years, and because it’s consistently done the way it is, it gives an accurate national apples-to-apples comparison. Our rates differ from other national surveys, in particular Freddie Mac’s weekly published rates. Each week Freddie Mac surveys lenders on the rates and points based on first-lien prime conventional conforming home purchase mortgages with a loan-to-value of 80%. “Lenders surveyed each week are a mix of lender types — thrifts, credit unions, commercial banks and mortgage lending companies — is roughly proportional to the level of mortgage business that each type commands nationwide,” according to Freddie Mac.