Mortgage rates fall below 6% for the first time since 2022
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Homebuyers are welcoming something they haven't seen since 2022: mortgage rates below 6%. The reduction could offer home hunters some financial breathing room as the spring home-buying season gets started. In:
Homebuyers are welcoming something they haven't seen since 2022: mortgage rates below 6%. The reduction could offer home hunters some financial breathing room as the spring home-buying season gets started.
The benchmark 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rate fell to 5.98% from 6.01% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. One year ago, the rate averaged 6.76%.
The average rate has been hovering close to 6% this year. This latest dip, its third decline in a row, brings it to its lowest level since Sept. 8, 2022, when it was 5.89%.
At the start of the pandemic, mortgage rates hit historic lows — with borrowers able to secure terms below 3% — as the Federal Reserve slashed its benchmark rate. But mortgage rates soared to above 7% in 2023 as the Fed boosted rates to tame the highest inflation in 40 years, pricing some homebuyers out of the market.
Mortgage rates have been trending lower for months, in part because the Fed cut rates last fall and amid shifting economic factors. While that helped drive a pickup in home sales the final four months of 2025, it hasn't been enough to lift the housing market out of its post-pandemic slump.
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