Freddie Mac on Thursday said the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage fell to 7.24% for the week of Oct. 29, 2026. The average was 7.32% the previous week, a drop of 0.08 percentage points. The average 15-year fixed-rate mortgage fell by the same amount, to 6.60% from 6.68%.
Freddie Mac said the 30-year average declined again, “reaching its lowest level this month.” It said the lower rate was giving prospective buyers a modest gain in purchasing power. Freddie Mac said opinions in the document are those of its economists and other researchers and do not necessarily represent the views of Freddie Mac or its management.
Both averages are higher than a year ago. In the week of Oct. 30, 2025, the 30-year average was 6.17% and the 15-year average was 5.41%.
Over the past 52 weeks, the 30-year average ranged from 5.98% in the week of Feb. 26, 2026, to 7.40% in the week of Oct. 15, 2026. The Oct. 15 reading is the high for that period.
The figures are weekly U.S. averages from Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey. Freddie Mac collects the rates from thousands of loan applications that lenders submit through its Loan Product Advisor system when a borrower applies for a mortgage. The national average is calculated from purchase applications that meet the survey’s criteria.
Those criteria cover conventional, single-family loans within conforming loan limits set by FHFA. Lenders in the survey are a mix of credit unions, commercial banks and mortgage lending companies. The rates reflect applications submitted that week from lenders across the country, not a quote from one day.
Each published average covers loan rates offered from 12 a.m. Eastern time on the prior Thursday through 11:59 p.m. Eastern time on Wednesday. Freddie Mac releases the survey each Thursday at noon Eastern time. When a U.S. holiday falls on a Thursday, it publishes on Wednesday of that week.
The survey no longer includes adjustable-rate mortgages or average fees and points. Freddie Mac said fees and points are not always required to be provided by lenders under current Loan Product Advisor rules, so it cannot report those averages. It said fixed-rate products have dominated the mortgage market in recent years.
Freddie Mac also said there has been a recent increase in the share of adjustable-rate mortgages in the broader market. Those loans remain most popular for higher loan amounts outside conforming limits, the company said. The survey has reported an average 30-year fixed rate since April 1971 and added the 15-year fixed rate in 1991.
On Nov. 17, 2022, Freddie Mac changed how it gathers rates. Instead of surveying lenders, it began using application data from Loan Product Advisor. In Nov. 2022 it also stopped publishing adjustable rates and fees and points.