NEW YORK, March 12, 2026, 2:00 PM EDT
- The average 30-year fixed mortgage in the U.S. hit 6.11% this week, Freddie Mac reported. Mortgage News Daily’s daily reading, though, tracked higher at 6.29% on Thursday.
- Mortgage applications climbed 3.2% last week, according to the latest data, yet single-family housing starts dipped 2.8% in January and permits edged down 0.9%.
- Shares tied to the housing sector slipped in the afternoon: D.R. Horton fell 2.3%, Lennar dropped 3.4%, and Rocket Companies lost 2.4%.
Mortgage rates in the U.S. moved higher on Thursday, breaking a short-lived dip. Freddie Mac pegged the average 30-year fixed rate at 6.11% in its latest weekly read, a rise from last week’s 6.00%. Mortgage News Daily’s daily figure came in at 6.29%, hovering close to its highest in over a month.
This lands at a tricky moment. February saw existing-home sales tick up 1.7% as lower mortgage rates tempted some buyers, yet fresh Commerce Department numbers out Thursday point the other way: single-family housing starts dropped 2.8% in January, and new permits edged down 0.9%. That hints at lingering supply constraints, even if demand holds.
Bond yields ticked up again, dragging mortgage rates higher. This week’s Reuters polls pointed to investors now betting on the first Fed rate cut in September, even though economists continue to expect a move in June. In a separate Reuters survey, the 10-year Treasury yield was reported nearly 0.20 percentage point above where it stood before the Iran conflict, now sitting around 4.16%. Robert Tipp from PGIM Fixed Income called the market’s view on rate cuts “too optimistic.” Reuters
“Buyers are responding to rates in this range,” said Sam Khater, chief economist at Freddie Mac. The company noted the 30-year rate remains more than half a percentage point below this time last year. Meanwhile, Mortgage Bankers Association reported total applications up 3.2% for the week, with the purchase index jumping 7.8%. GlobeNewswire
The daily numbers painted a rougher picture than the weekly trend. On Wednesday, Mortgage News Daily pegged the 30-year mortgage rate at 6.24%, up from 6.09% the day before. Its dashboard put the 10-year Treasury yield near 4.25% by Thursday afternoon. Matthew Graham at Mortgage News Daily pointed to rising energy costs driving up inflation expectations, noting simply: “higher inflation begets higher rates.” Mortgage News Daily
Shares tied to the housing sector lost ground along with the rest of the market. D.R. Horton shed 2.3% to $139.41 by the afternoon, Lennar traded down 3.4% at $93.26, and Rocket Companies was off 2.4% at $14.79. Reuters reported Wall Street’s main indexes dropped more than 1% as oil prices surged past $100 a barrel.
There’s room for the picture to change. Tom Graff, chief investment officer at Facet, noted that February’s consumer price numbers provided the Fed with a bit of breathing space. Still, if fallout from the Middle East pushes into core inflation—the measure that strips out food and energy—officials could be forced to delay rate cuts.
Wells Fargo economist Charlie Dougherty put it plainly: even ahead of this week’s rate move, affordability gains were just “around the edges.” Inventory of existing homes ticked up to 1.29 million units in February, Reuters noted, but supply stayed beneath pre-pandemic levels. That hints lower borrowing costs by themselves probably won’t spark a significant sales recovery. Reuters
