U.S. Mortgage Rates Stay Near 6.7% as High Treasury Yields Limit Relief for Homebuyers

U.S. mortgage rates remain close to 6.7% heading into Monday, Aug. 24, offering buyers only modest relief as elevated Treasury yields continue to keep borrowing costs high. The latest Freddie Mac data put the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate at 6.65%, while faster-moving daily lender data ended last week at 6.77%.

Freddie Mac said the 30-year fixed rate fell from 6.67% a week earlier, marking its second consecutive weekly decline. The average 15-year fixed mortgage rate also edged down to 5.95% from 5.96%. However, the 30-year rate remains slightly above the 6.58% average recorded during the comparable week last year.

Mortgage Rates Are Barely Different From a Year Ago

The FRED chart puts the current mortgage-rate environment into a longer-term perspective. Rather than displaying the mortgage rate itself, the chart measures how many percentage points the 30-year fixed rate has changed from the same period one year earlier.

U.S. 30-Year Fixed Mortgage Rate Year-Over-Year Change, 2021-2026. Source: Freddie Mac via FRED

That year-over-year gap surged toward 4 percentage points in late 2022 as the Federal Reserve’s inflation fight rapidly pushed borrowing costs higher. The gap then narrowed through 2023 and 2024 and moved below zero for portions of late 2024, 2025 and 2026.

By Aug. 20, 2026, the year-over-year change had returned to just 0.07 percentage point, with the 30-year rate at 6.65% compared with 6.58% a year earlier. The chart therefore shows a mortgage market that is no longer experiencing the large annual rate increases seen earlier in the tightening cycle, but it does not yet show a meaningful affordability breakthrough.

Treasury Yields Keep Mortgage Rates Elevated

The main obstacle remains the bond market. Mortgage rates tend to track the 10-year Treasury yield, although the two do not move point for point. Mortgage News Daily reported an average top-tier 30-year fixed rate of 6.77% on Friday, Aug. 21, as its 10-year Treasury reading stood at 4.739%.

High rates are already weighing on demand. Mortgage Bankers Association data showed total mortgage applications fell 0.4% in the week ended Aug. 14. Purchase applications declined 2%, while the MBA’s average contract rate for conforming 30-year mortgages remained at 6.77%. Applications to purchase newly built homes were also 5.7% lower in July than a year earlier.

The next major test for mortgage rates comes from inflation and Federal Reserve expectations. July personal income and spending data, including the closely watched PCE inflation indexes, are scheduled for Wednesday, Aug. 26. Fed Chair Kevin Warsh is then scheduled to deliver keynote remarks Friday at the Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium.

For borrowers, the near-term direction remains tied largely to Treasury yields. A sustained decline in bond yields could pull mortgage rates lower, while renewed inflation concerns or a hawkish shift in Fed expectations could keep the 30-year rate near current levels or push it higher.