Today’s mortgage rates, explained.
Mortgage rates change every business day, sometimes more than once, and no one rate applies to everybody. This page explains what moves current mortgage interest rates from day to day, why two quotes differ, and how the weekly national survey works. It prints no rate. For a real quote on your own loan, ask Sam.
Sam Batayneh is a mortgage loan originator (NMLS 332474) and VP of Mortgage Lending at OriginPoint (NMLS 1598647). Sam has originated mortgages since 2004 and lends in all of California.
What moves mortgage rates from day to day?
The bond market. Mortgage rates follow the price investors pay for mortgage bonds, and that price moves with Treasury yields, inflation reports, jobs data and what the Federal Reserve is expected to do.
The 10-year Treasury yield
Mortgage rates tend to move in the same direction as the yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note, because investors weigh mortgage bonds against Treasuries. The two do not move in lockstep, and the gap between them changes. The Treasury posts the yield each business day: the U.S. Treasury’s daily rates page.
Mortgage bonds
Most home loans are pooled into mortgage-backed securities and sold to investors. What investors will pay for those bonds decides what lenders can offer. That market trades all day, which is why a lender’s pricing can change between morning and afternoon.
Inflation reports
Inflation wears away what a bond’s fixed payments are worth, so bond investors watch the Consumer Price Index and the other inflation reports closely. A reading that surprises the market, in either direction, can move mortgage rates the same morning. Inflation reports on the economic calendar.
The Federal Reserve
The Fed does not set mortgage rates. It sets a target for a very short-term rate between banks, and its statements shape what investors expect next. Those expectations are usually built into mortgage rates before a meeting. Federal Reserve meeting dates.
Jobs data
The monthly jobs report and the weekly jobless claims show how strong the economy is. Strong numbers tend to push bond yields one way and weak numbers the other, and mortgage rates tend to follow. The jobs report on the economic calendar.
Auctions, world events, supply and demand
Treasury auctions, events abroad and plain supply and demand for bonds all play a part. No single report decides where mortgage rates go, and nobody can know the next move in advance.
Mortgage rates tend to follow the bond market, which is why the same reports matter to both. General education only. Nothing on this page is a prediction, an offer or a rate quote.
Why is one mortgage quote different from another?
Because lenders price each loan separately, on the day it is quoted. The loan type, the loan amount, your credit, your down payment, the points and the lock all change it.
The loan type
Conventional, FHA, VA and jumbo loans are each priced separately. So are fixed and adjustable rates, and loans of different lengths. Every loan option, in plain words.
The loan amount
A conforming loan, a high-balance conforming loan and a jumbo loan can each be priced differently, and the county’s limit decides which one a loan is. Jumbo loans in California.
Credit
Lenders price by bands of credit score. Two borrowers can be quoted differently for the same loan on the same day.
Down payment or equity
The loan amount measured against the home’s value is one of the main inputs, on a purchase and on a refinance alike.
Points and credits
Paying discount points at closing buys a lower rate on the same loan. Taking a lender credit toward closing costs does the opposite. Two quotes can only be compared when the points and costs are the same.
The home and how you use it
A main home, a second home and a rental are priced differently. So are condos and homes with two to four units.
The lock
A quote holds only once it is locked, and a longer lock usually costs more than a shorter one.
Why can’t a web page show “the” current interest rate?
Because there isn’t one. A rate printed on a page describes an assumed borrower and an assumed loan at one moment, and it is out of date as soon as the market moves.
A rate in an advertisement comes with assumptions in its small print: a certain credit score, a certain down payment, a certain loan amount, often some points paid at closing. Change any one of them and the figure changes. That is why two lenders’ advertised figures cannot be compared directly, and why the figure in a headline is rarely the figure on a Loan Estimate.
This site takes the other route. Its pages explain how loans and rates work, and show published loan limits with their sources. A rate for your own loan comes from a conversation with Sam, and then, after you apply, from a Loan Estimate in writing. How adjustable-rate mortgages work, for anyone weighing a fixed rate against an adjustable one.
How does Freddie Mac’s weekly mortgage rate survey work?
Freddie Mac publishes a national average once a week, on Thursdays. It is the figure most news stories quote. It is an average for one kind of loan, not an offer and not a quote.
The survey’s full name is the Primary Mortgage Market Survey. It comes out on Thursdays at noon Eastern time and gives a national average for the week that just ended, so it always looks back. The current figure, the method and the history are on Freddie Mac’s own page: Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey.
The average describes a particular loan. Freddie Mac describes the survey as covering conventional, conforming home-purchase loans for borrowers with strong credit and a sizeable down payment, and it draws the figure from loan applications that lenders across the country send through its underwriting system. Jumbo loans, FHA and VA loans, refinances and other borrowers are not what it measures.
That makes the survey useful for one thing: seeing the direction from week to week on a steady yardstick. It is not Sam’s rate or OriginPoint’s rate, and it is not a quote for your loan. This page does not print the figure. The Daily Mortgage Show reports it as news, with its source.
How do you follow daily moves on The Daily Mortgage Show?
Watch the show for what was published that day and by whom, and use the economic calendar to see what is due next. The show is news and education, not a rate quote.
The Daily Mortgage Show
The day’s economic reports and market news for California home buyers, each figure given with its publisher. On Thursdays it reports Freddie Mac’s weekly average as news.
Watch on SamBatayneh.tvThe economic calendar
When the jobs report, the inflation reports and Federal Reserve meetings come out, who publishes each one, the latest readings and where to read them first-hand.
See the economic calendarThree habits make the daily moves easier to read. First, watch the direction over several days, not one move on one morning. Second, match the news to the calendar: a move on the morning of a jobs report or an inflation report usually has that report behind it. Third, remember what the figures are. A Treasury yield and a national average are market readings. Neither one is the rate on your own loan.
Each show also has a written article, with every figure credited to its publisher: news from SamBatayneh.tv.
How do you get a real mortgage rate quote?
Ask Sam. A real quote is worked out for one loan on one day, from five things you can tell Sam in a few minutes.
- The price and the down payment. Or, on a refinance, the balance you owe and what the home is worth.
- The county. It decides whether the loan is conforming, high-balance or jumbo. 2026 loan limits by county.
- How you will use the home. A main home, a second home or a rental.
- A rough picture of your credit and income. Enough for Sam to say which loans fit. Nothing is asked for on this site.
- Your timing. When you expect to make an offer or to close, because a quote holds only once it is locked.
What happens after you ask for a quote?
Sam goes through the options with you. Once you apply, the lender sends a Loan Estimate that puts the rate and the costs of that loan in writing.
The Loan Estimate is a standard form, the same from every lender, so two of them can be laid side by side. It shows the rate, whether the rate can change, the closing costs and the cash needed to close for the loan you asked about. It is the document to compare, not an advertisement and not a weekly average.
This site has no contact form and asks for no personal or financial details. The conversation starts on Sam’s OriginPoint page, and an application is made on OriginPoint’s own site. How a home loan works, step by step. The calculator lets you test your own numbers.
Plain answers about mortgage rates.
What are today’s mortgage rates?
Why do mortgage rates change every day?
Do mortgage rates follow the 10-year Treasury yield?
Does the Federal Reserve set mortgage rates?
Why is my quote different from the national average?
General education only. Each lender sets its own rules, and they change. Nothing here is a promise that a loan will be approved or of any terms. This is not tax, legal or investment advice: for those questions, ask your own CPA, attorney or business manager.
Want the real number?
Tell Sam about the loan you have in mind. Sam will give you a quote for that loan, in plain words.