Compare today's mortgage rates

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Our Nerdy take on mortgage rate trends

June 6, 2025: Mortgage rates have stood still for about three weeks. On one hand, the immobile mortgage rates have granted home buyers some stability, giving them confidence to make offers. On the other hand, rates are too high for the comfort of a lot of buyers.

Factors that affect today’s mortgage rates

Mortgage rates change all the time, as lenders adjust their offers up or down depending on what’s happening on a grand scale. Shifts in the economy, changes in markets, and big events like national elections are reflected in rates’ movements.

Mortgage lenders take that big stuff into account in order to set base rates that are competitive while giving them some profit. They then adjust that base rate up or down for individual borrowers depending on perceived risk.

Say you have a solid credit score with a record of on-time payments and a manageable amount of debt. You’d likely seem like a safe bet to a lender and be offered a lower interest rate than a borrower who had some negative remarks on their credit report and larger debts.

Factors you can change

Your credit score

Mortgage lenders use credit score as a stand-in for risk. Higher credit scores are seen as safer, and are generally rewarded with lower interest rate offers.

Your down payment

Paying a larger percentage of the home’s price upfront reduces the amount you’re borrowing. A bigger down payment may help you score a lower interest rate.

Your loan type

What kind of mortgage you’re applying for influences the rate you’re offered. For example, jumbo loans tend to have higher interest rates.

How you’ll use the home

A mortgage for a primary residence will usually have a lower interest rate than a home loan for a second home or an investment property.

Forces you can’t control

The U.S. economy

Stock market trends, the rate of inflation and the job market can all put pressure on mortgage interest rates. Events like elections can influence rates, too.

The global economy

What’s happening around the world affects U.S. markets, which can then push mortgage rates higher or lower.

The Federal Reserve

Decisions by the nation’s central bank to raise or cut interest rates for short-term borrowing can ripple out to rates on longer-term loans, including mortgages.

The housing market

A hot housing market can make it harder to find lower mortgage rates. When lenders have plenty of business, there’s less incentive to compete for buyers.

How to compare mortgage rates

Here’s a breakdown of what you’re looking at when you view mortgage interest rate offers.

APR: Annual percentage rate, or APR, is a figure that takes into account the interest rate the lender offers as well as other costs associated with the loan. Because it’s more inclusive, APR is usually considered a more accurate measure of how much a mortgage will cost.

Interest rate: The interest rate listed is the mortgage rate that the lender is offering. If you haven’t entered any information to personalize the rate (like your approximate credit score, location, or down payment savings), you’re seeing a sample rate that’s calculated based on generic borrower characteristics that may not apply to you.

Est. mo. payment: The estimated monthly payment is how much this loan would cost, per month, in principal and interest.

Total fees: These are the additional, one-time costs you’ll pay to obtain the loan. This can include lender fees, as well as other closing costs like the appraisal fee or title insurance. This number can also include discount points, which are units of prepaid interest. Points are optional — and pricey — but they lower the interest rate. Including discount points in the rate offer will make a lender’s rates appear lower.

How to see personalized mortgage rates

Mortgage rates like the ones you see on this page are sample rates. In this case, they’re the averages of rates from multiple lenders, which are provided to NerdWallet by Zillow. That lets you know where mortgage rates stand today, but it doesn’t show you the exact rate you’d be offered.

The same goes for rates you see advertised by individual lenders. Lenders use a set of sample borrower characteristics — like credit score, location and down payment amount — to generate the rates they show on their websites.

To see more personalized rates, you’ll need to provide some information about you and about the home you’re hoping to buy.

Fill in the fields to match your characteristics and plans in the ‘Purchase’ tab at the top of this page. For ZIP code, enter where you’re hoping to buy. (Not sure about your planned purchase price or down payment amount? Check out our affordability calculator to pin down your homebuying budget.) Then click ‘see rates’ to show offers that more closely match your financial picture.

Tap the ‘Customize’ button at the top of this page, then fill in the fields to match your characteristics and plans. For ZIP code, enter where you’re hoping to buy. (Not sure about your planned purchase price or down payment amount? Check out our affordability calculator to pin down your homebuying budget.) Then tap ‘find my rates’ to see offers that more closely match your financial picture.

Does a lower mortgage rate matter? Savings example

Whether you’re looking at sample rates on lenders’ websites or comparing personalized rates here, you’ll notice that interest rates vary. This is one reason why it’s important to shop around to get the best mortgage rate when you’re looking for a lender. Borrowers who compare at least two lenders could save as much as $600 per year — and comparing at least four lenders bumps that savings to up to $1,200 annually — according to research from Freddie Mac.

Fractions of a percentage might not seem like they’d make a big difference, but you aren’t just shaving a few bucks off your monthly mortgage payment. You’re also lowering the total amount of interest you’ll pay over the life of the loan. The longer you own the home, the more that savings will add up.

Here’s an example: Say one lender is offering you a 7% fixed interest rate on a 30-year mortgage for $360,000, while another is offering 6.75% for the same loan.

With a 7% interest rate, the monthly principal and interest payment would be almost $2,400. With a 6.75% interest rate, the monthly principal and interest payment would be about $2,340.

That’s a difference of about $60 a month, which might not seem like a ton. But after five years, you’d save more than $4,500 in interest at the lower rate. And over the life of the loan, you’d pay almost $22,000 less interest.

And this example uses a difference of just a quarter of a percentage point. If you’ve got a range of offers from a few lenders, you may find there’s a substantial difference between the highest and lowest quote.

How to compare mortgage lenders

Before you start looking at lenders, you need to know what you can spend. Figure out how much house you can afford to create your home shopping budget.
Browse lenders online and check out their sample interest rates. If you can, personalize the rates by entering details like your down payment savings and where you live.
Apply for mortgage preapproval from at least three lenders. Preapproval doesn’t affect your credit score, plus it’s helpful for home shopping.
Within three business days, each lender that preapproves you will send you a Loan Estimate. You’ll be able to compare rate offers and lender fees side by side.

Don’t want to do all that work? You don’t have to. A mortgage broker can do the research, presenting you with loan options that fit your needs. They’ll continue to work with you throughout the homebuying process, too, interacting with the lender and other parties in the transaction to keep things running smoothly. If you’d prefer to be more hands on, that’s fine, too. You can make an informed choice by asking brokers about their fees and services and weighing those costs and benefits against researching lenders on your own.

Frequently asked questions

What is included in a mortgage payment?

The interest rate is what the lender charges for borrowing the money, expressed as a percentage. The APR, or annual percentage rate, is a measure that’s supposed to more accurately reflect the cost of borrowing.

APR includes fees and discount points that you’d pay at closing, as well as ongoing costs, on top of the interest rate. That’s why APR is usually higher than the interest rate.
Are mortgage rates expected to drop?

Mortgage rates are constantly on the move, though sometimes those moves are barely visible — just a few basis points up or down. In 2025, average rates on 30-year, fixed-rate loans have pretty much stayed within a range of 6.5% to 7%.

This has some frustrated would-be borrowers asking when mortgage rates will be 3% again, as they were in 2020 and 2021. But it’s important to remember not just that it was cheaper to borrow back then, but also why rates went so low. The Federal Reserve took extraordinary measures — including cutting the federal funds rate to near zero and buying billions of dollars in mortgage-backed securities — to try to avert an economic crisis brought on by the pandemic. This wasn’t the normal ups and downs of the market, it was a serious outlier.

It’s smart to keep track of mortgage rate trends so you can nail down your budget, but home buyers shouldn’t feel pressure to time the market. Mortgage rates can’t be predicted with complete accuracy — and if you’re waiting for rates to hit a certain number, you could miss out on your perfect home.
What is a mortgage rate lock?

Mortgage rates not only vary from day to day, but hour to hour. In order to know what interest rate you’ll pay, you need the rate you’re offered to stop changing. A mortgage rate lock is the lender’s guarantee that you’ll pay the agreed-upon interest rate if you close by a certain date. Your locked rate won’t change, no matter what happens to interest rates in the meantime.

It’s a good idea to lock the rate when you’re approved for a mortgage with an interest rate that you’re comfortable with. Consult with your loan officer or mortgage broker on the timing of the rate lock. Ideally, your rate lock would extend a few days after the expected closing date, so you’ll get the agreed-upon rate even if the closing is delayed a few days.