After hitting 5.99% as recently as February 27th, top tier 30yr fixed mortgage rates are back over 6.5% for the average lender today--the highest they've been since September 3rd, 2025.  The entire month of March has been painful for many corners of the financial market and mortgage rates are not immune. The Iran war is the underlying catalyst as surging fuel costs force global central banks to rapidly reassess inflation expectations and the policy rate outlook. As we're fond of repeating, an actual hike/cut of the Fed Funds Rate is of no concern to mortgage rates by the time it actually happens. But if Fed hike/cut  expectations are changing rapidly, mortgage rates will almost always be changing rapidly in the same direction.  That's what's happening this week--not just for the Fed, but also for the European Central Bank and others. The globally-coordinated hawkishness on the rate outlook causes additional volatility in the rate market for a variety of reasons. Investors increasingly believe that there is additional pain that needs to play out even if the war were to end today. That doesn't mean rates can't bounce for a day or two, but it does mean sustained improvement back to February's levels is highly unlikely in the near term.

Mortgage rates hit 7-month highs last Friday, but recovered fairly nicely on the first two days of the present week. The past 2 days have been a bit rough, unfortunately. Over that time, the average top-tier 30yr fixed rate rose 0.14% to 6.43%--just a bit higher than last Friday's 6.41%. Whereas mortgage rate volatility on many recent days have been a function of oil price volatility, the past two days have had more to do with the market's reaction to central bank policy communications. Yesterday, that involved the Federal Reserve's post-announcement press conference. Today is was the European Central Bank (ECB).  While it may not be the first motivation most people think of when it comes to interest rates, foreign central banks can cause volatility across the globe and today was one of those days. Unfortunately, it was unfriendly volatility--especially earlier in the morning. With no big-ticket data or central bank events on tap for tomorrow, geopolitical risk stands a better chance to return to the driver's seat for rate volatility. 

Mortgage rates got hit 3 times on Wednesday, with the net effect being a move back up to the highest levels in several months. The average lender isn't quite as high as they were last Friday, but after late-day "reprices" many are fairly close.  The least of the bond market's concerns (bonds dictate rates) was this morning's inflation data. The Producer Price Index (PPI) was higher than expected on multiple fronts, including those that translate directly to higher consumer prices in the more robust PCE inflation data that comes out on April 9th. Higher inflation = higher rates, all else equal.  Inflation also figured into the morning's other development: a renewed surge in oil prices. Granted, it's not as big as some of the recent spikes, but as crude jumped roughly $6 per barrel, bond yields followed with a strong correlation. The 3rd market mover was also inflation-related, but this time in the form of Fed comments. Fed Chair Powell's characterization of inflation progress left the market feeling hopeless regarding potential rate cuts any time soon. As always, it is the market's rate cut expectations that actually correlate with interest rate movement (whereas actual Fed rate cuts are old news by the time they happen).  Today's post-Fed press conference resulted in financial markets moving expectations for the next rate cut out to April of 2027. A day ago, the market saw no chance of a rate HIKE at the next Fed meeting. Today, it's nearly 5% (not high, but a notable shift nonetheless).

It was a fairly uneventful day for mortgage rates, but also a fairly decent one. The underlying bond market made modest gains even without meaningful cues from oil prices. Lately, oil price volatility has been the most visible motivation for bonds and, thus, interest rates. After cresting 6.40% last week, the MND 30yr fixed rate index is back below 6.30% today, albeit just barely (6.29% for top tier 30yr fixed rates at the average lender). Looking ahead, tomorrow afternoon brings the latest Fed announcement. The market has conclusively decided there will be no rate cut. Even if the opposite were true, there would be no implication for mortgage rates (because the Fed doesn't dictate mortgage rates). Nonetheless, Fed days can still cause volatility in rates, for better or worse. In tomorrow's case, any impact from the Fed should be smaller than it otherwise would have been due to the market's preoccupation with geopolitical influences.

Mortgage rates are based on bonds, and bonds spent last week bracing for the impact of higher energy prices. In the bond world, higher inflation begets higher rates, all else equal.  Oil prices remain elevated, but fell more than 5% on Monday. The bond market responded with a drop in Treasury yields (which generally correlate with mortgage rates). Both the 10yr Treasury yield and the average top-tier 30yr fixed mortgage rate fell 0.06% on the day. That means mortgages are now at the highest levels in only 3 months after being at 7-month highs on Friday afternoon.  [thirtyyearmortgagerates]