Editor’s Note: The Mortgage Mix is RISMedia’s biweekly highlight reel of need-to-know mortgage-industry happenings. Watch for it every other Friday afternoon.
– As the 2026 housing market gets underway, mortgage rates have been holding steady at around 6% during the latter half of January. Despite rates reaching near three-year lows, applications decreased during the week of January 29 as rates held largely unchanged.
– The 30-year fixed mortgage rate had reached 6.01% by January 12, before shooting back up to 6.21% by January 21—ABC News reporting attributed this see-sawing to concerns over trade, specifically following President Trump’s threats to institute tariffs on European countries opposing his desire to acquire Greenland.
– A report from Redfin found that new home listings increased for the first time in two months during January, a change attributed to currently low mortgage rates that are attracting homebuyers and easing the “lock-in effect” for home sellers.
– A report from ICE Mortgage Technology found that at the end of 2025, there was a “refinance rush” among homeowners due to dropping mortgage rates. As a result, prepayment levels reached their highest point in about three years. At the same time, mortgage delinquencies and foreclosure rates also picked up as affordability pressures remain on the market and homeowners.
– At the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) in January 2026, the Federal Reserve chose to leave interest rates unchanged, which should further contribute to stability for mortgage rates over the next few weeks.
– A consumer class-action lawsuit was filed against Rocket Companies on January 26, with claims that the company used Rocket-affiliated agents to steer their clients towards using Rocket Mortgage. Rocket Companies themselves categorically deny the lawsuits’ allegations of mortgage steering.
– Ginnie Mae has published its Annual Financial Report for the previous fiscal year (which had ended September 30, 2025); the report found strong performance of Ginnie Mae’s mortgage-backed securities (MBS) issuance program, which financed 1.4 million households in the U.S. during the fiscal year. This represents $526.4 billion in MBS issuance, a 7.2% annual growth rate for the Ginnie Mae portfolio. “Ginnie Mae’s performance highlights the value of HUD’s housing finance programs in making the American Dream possible for millions of Americans,” said Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Scott Turner.
– According to the American Community Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau, about 33 million homeowners in the U.S., or 40% of all homeowners, are now without a mortgage, compared to 26.7 million 10 years ago. This comes due to the number of homeowners paying off their mortgage increasing faster than new people becoming homeowners with mortgages.
