Mortgage rates continue falling, this week seeing their lowest weekly drop since September, Freddie Mac reported, providing incentives for both purchase and refinance activity as the spring market approaches.
According to Freddie Mac’s latest Primary Mortgage Market Survey® (PMMS®), the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 6.63% this week, down from last week’s 6.76% drop. A year ago at this time, the average 30-year fixed rate mortgage was 6.88%.
“As the spring homebuying season gets underway, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage saw the largest weekly decline since mid-September,” said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist. “The decline in rates increases prospective homebuyers’ purchasing power and should provide a strong incentive to make a move. Additionally, this decline in rates is already providing some existing homeowners the opportunity to refinance. In fact, the refinance share of market mortgage applications released this week reached nearly 44%, the highest since mid-December.”
Realtor.com Senior Economist Joel Berner agreed, but cautioned:
“These lower rates will spur on the housing market as it enters the start of the spring buying season, but they remain in danger of remaining in an elevated state. This is because of inflation remaining stubbornly high, which will not be helped by the tariffs that the Trump administration appears committed to rolling out. Expectations of higher consumer prices in the future leads debt market investors to demand higher returns on their investments, indirectly pulling interest rates up at the same time that they deter the Federal Reserve from making direct cuts to interest rates.
He also noted that the current market also provides a more favorable climate for first-time buyers: “Last year was a particularly slow year for home sales, the slowest since 1996,” Khater said, noting that first-time home buyers were largely left out of the 2024 market. “Given the fact that rents have been falling year over year for 18 consecutive months, we expect that many prospective first-timers have been able to save up for a down payment and will be able to become homeowners in 2025, even with mortgage rates relatively high,” he added.
The numbers:
- The 30-year FRM averaged 6.63% as of March 6, 2025, down from last week when it averaged 6.76%. A year ago at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 6.88%.
- The 15-year FRM averaged 5.79%, down from last week when it averaged 5.94%. A year ago at this time, the 15-year FRM averaged 6.22%.
To view the full report, click here.
