30-year mortgage rate climbs to 6.71%, highest since July 2025

The average rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose to 6.71% this week, according to Freddie Mac, marking the highest level since July 2025. The increase follows a rise in U.S. Treasury yields, which have been pressured by concerns over government borrowing, competition for capital from AI-related projects and heightened inflation risks linked to renewed Middle East hostilities.

The Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge, the personal consumption expenditures price index, has remained above the central bank’s 2% target for roughly five and a half years. While the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell to 4.744% after a brief surge to 4.818%—its highest since November 2023—Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller indicated that recent easing in inflation data could reduce the need for another rate hike at the September meeting.

"Mortgage rates are not low, auto loans are not — rates are not low," Waller told a Reuters Next event in Washington. "If I see housing’s in the tank, new cars have gotten almost to be a luxury instead of a normal thing that a middle-class family can do — that’s not loose financial conditions."

Waller added that continued moderation in inflation readings would make him comfortable with holding rates steady at the upcoming policy meeting.