Mortgage rates rise again as inflation, Iran undermine confidence

Current mortgage rates

The 30-year fixed mortgages in this week’s survey had an average total of 0.31 discount and origination points. Discount points are a way to lower your mortgage rate, while origination points are fees lenders charge to create, review and process your loan.

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Monthly mortgage payment at today’s rates

The national median family income for 2026 was $106,800, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the median price of an existing home sold in April 2026 was $417,700, according to the National Association of Realtors. Based on a 20% down payment and a 6.46% mortgage rate, the monthly principal and interest payment of $2,103 amounts to about 24% of the typical family’s monthly income.

Meanwhile, home prices have begun to dip in many formerly hot markets. Half of the nation’s 50 largest metro areas experienced price declines over the past year, Zillow reported in early February. Separately, the S&P Cotality Case-Shiller index released April 28 showed national home prices grew just 0.7% in the past year. That was the weakest showing since 2011, when prices fell 3.9%.

“More than half of major U.S. metropolitan markets posted year-over-year price declines in February, signaling that the housing slowdown has broadened well beyond its Sun Belt origins,” said Nicholas Godec of the S&P Dow Jones Indices.  

What will happen to mortgage rates in the rest of 2026?

The Federal Reserve opted to hold its benchmark rate steady at recent meetings. Rising inflation has been the main driver of higher mortgage rates — the April consumer price index was up 3.8% from a year earlier, well above the Fed’s 2% target. Oil prices have spiked amid the conflict in Iran, pushing inflation up and lifting mortgage rates from their 2026 low of 6.09%.

Housing economists no longer expect mortgage rates to fall below 6% in the near future, a reality that’s affecting home sales. While 2026 was once thought to be the year the housing market rebounded, home sales remain sluggish.

“Higher inflation will have more consumers moving cautiously on big financial decisions,” says Lisa Sturtevant, chief economist at Bright MLS, a large listing service in the mid-Atlantic region. “With prices rising again last month, and as the conflict in the Middle East shows no real signs of resolution, we’re likely to continue to see sluggish home sales for the rest of the spring and into the summer.”

• Methodology

  The Bankrate.com national survey of large lenders is conducted weekly. To conduct the National Average survey, Bankrate obtains rate information from the 10 largest banks and thrifts in 10 large U.S. markets. In the Bankrate.com national survey, our Market Analysis team gathers rates and/or yields on banking deposits, loans and mortgages. We’ve conducted this survey in the same manner for more than 30 years, and because it’s consistently done the way it is, it gives an accurate national apples-to-apples comparison. Our rates differ from other national surveys, in particular Freddie Mac’s weekly published rates. Each week Freddie Mac surveys lenders on the rates and points based on first-lien prime conventional conforming home purchase mortgages with a loan-to-value of 80%. “Lenders surveyed each week are a mix of lender types — thrifts, credit unions, commercial banks and mortgage lending companies — is roughly proportional to the level of mortgage business that each type commands nationwide,” according to Freddie Mac.