NEW YORK, Feb 25, 2026, 07:19 EST
- U.S. 30-year fixed mortgage rates averaged about 6.04% on Wednesday, down from last week, Bankrate data showed.
- Zillow data put the average 30-year fixed rate at 5.76% on Tuesday, with the 15-year at 5.37%.
- NAHB research said a 0.25-point rate drop to 6% could make a median-priced new home affordable for 1.42 million more households.
U.S. mortgage rates edged lower again, with the average 30-year fixed rate at 6.04% on Feb. 25, down from 6.19% a week earlier, according to Bankrate. “The Federal Reserve is indicating a cautious approach to reducing rates in 2026, with the recent FOMC minutes not discounting the possibility of a rate hike,” Dr. Selma Hepp, chief economist at Cotality, said in a statement. Bankrate
The move matters because the market is drifting into the spring selling season with buyers still pinned by high prices, while many homeowners have been waiting for a clean refinancing window. Even small shifts can change the monthly bill enough to pull some households back into the hunt.
Homebuilders have been making the same point, in blunter math. NAHB’s priced-out estimates found that a 25-basis-point drop — 0.25 percentage point — from 6.25% to 6% would lower the qualifying income threshold enough to allow 1.42 million additional households to afford a median-priced new home of $413,595, based on its assumptions. Eyeonhousing
Another widely watched tracker showed even cheaper borrowing for some borrowers. Zillow pegged the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate at 5.76% on Feb. 24 and the 15-year fixed at 5.37%, levels that can tempt both buyers and would-be refinancers, though daily trackers can diverge on methodology and mix. Yahoo
Refinancing still looks uneven. Bankrate put the average 30-year fixed refinance rate at 6.49% on Wednesday, slightly higher than a week earlier, a reminder that the “headline” purchase rate does not always translate cleanly into refi offers.
The policy backdrop is not exactly soothing. Hepp pointed to Federal Open Market Committee minutes — the Fed’s rate-setting group — that kept a possible hike on the table, even as markets debate when cuts might resume.
Hepp also said a regulatory easing push could help lenders and servicers, and she argued the industry needs it. “This doesn’t come a moment too soon,” she said, citing delayed home sales reports and a weak backdrop heading into spring.
But rates can move the wrong way fast. Bankrate noted the 10-year Treasury yield ticked up after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on tariffs, and fixed mortgage rates tend to track bond yields, which can lift borrowing costs even when the Fed is on hold.
Other parts of the mortgage menu remain lower than the 30-year benchmark. Bankrate’s averages showed a 15-year fixed at 5.45% and a 5/1 ARM at 5.34%; ARMs are adjustable-rate mortgages that typically hold a fixed rate for an initial period before resetting.
Affordability is still the bottleneck. NAHB’s analysis underscored how many households sit just below key income thresholds, so modest rate relief can change who qualifies, but it does not solve the broader problem of prices outrunning paychecks in many markets.
For now, the market is left with a familiar trade-off: a bit more rate relief, some cautious optimism about spring demand — and the risk that bond markets, inflation jitters, or the next Fed signal snaps the trend back the other way.
