US mortgage rates surpassed 7% for the first time since January 2025, according to federal lender Freddie Mac, aggravating a housing market that has endured years of high interest rates and low supply.
The increase comes after the US Federal Reserve hiked interest rates, which directly affect mortgage rates, for the first time since 2023, citing high inflation.
Rates on 16 September went up by a quarter-point, to a range of 3.75% to 4%. In new projections, a majority of the Fed’s rate-setting committee predicted at least one additional rate hike before the end of this year.
Last year, the Freddie Mac 30-year-mortgage rate, commonly used on home loans across the country, had been trending down from 7.79% – a generational high reached in late 2023.
But rates have been creeping back up since late February, when the US and Israel launched its war with Iran. The conflict drove inflation to its highest levels in three years and sharply increased energy prices.
Brent crude, the international benchmark for oil, topped $105 earlier on Thursday.
On Thursday, the 10-year US treasury yield – which underpins the 30-year mortgage rate and other borrowing costs – also reached its highest level since July 2007 and the 30-year Treasury yield hitting its peak since 2004 as investors raised expectations for another Fed rate hike next month.
In earlier September, US treasury secretary Scott Bessent announced the Treasury would triple its buyback of government debt, but yields have continued to rise.
The housing market has long been in a slowdown, said Anthony Smith, a senior economist at Realtor.com, with existing home sales hitting their 2026 low so far in August and pending sales that have turned negative year over year.
“A 7% handle is as much psychological as mathematical, and it arrives at the point in the season when leverage usually shifts toward buyers,” said Smith.
High mortgage rates are just one of the many reasons why Americans are struggling to attain home ownership. Wages have not kept pace with higher inflation, and everyday costs are higher.
The frustration is expected to show up in November’s midterm elections as Republicans struggle to maintain control of Congress. Nearly three-quarters of Americans disapprove of Trump’s handling of the economy, according to a recent CNN poll conducted by SSRS, and two-thirds of registered voters rate the economy as “extremely important” to their vote.
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