Mortgage rates are barely budging, and housing analysts caution consumers not to get hung up on incremental changes.
As of Wednesday, the 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.23%, down from 6.26% a week earlier, according to mortgage giant Freddie Mac. A year ago, the 30-year rate, by far the most popular for homebuyers, was 6.81%.
The 15-year, fixed-rate mortgage also fell, to an average of 5.51% from 5.54%. In the same week last year, the rate was 6.10%.
“With pending home sales at the highest level since last November, homebuyer activity continues to show resilience as we near the end of the year,” Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist, said in a statement.
Daily mortgage rates, often more volatile than the weekly ones, were flat as of Wednesday afternoon. The 30-year rate of 6.22% was up 0.02 of a percentage point, while the 15-year rate of 5.78% inched up 0.03 of a percentage point, according to Mortgage News Daily.
The small change in the Freddie Mac data follows two weeks of mostly the status quo as 2025 nears an end.
A weak employment report is likely to prompt the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates by another quarter of a point at its December meeting, said Brad Case, chief residential economist for Homes.com.
While the Fed doesn't set mortgage rates, its decisions often influence lenders, so a Fed cut should lead to a decline in mortgage rates, analysts say.
Still, Case said, buyers should not base decisions on minuscule movements in borrowing costs.
"Instead, focus on the fact that the inventory of homes available for purchase has grown at a time when home price increases have moderated," he said. "Given the recent decline in homebuilding, we may see a contraction in supply that would make the perfect home more difficult to find and more expensive."
Mortgage rates are likely to remain relatively steady in the near term after topping 7% earlier this year, said James Young, an associate finance professor at the University of Oklahoma. He recommends buyers worry more about saving for a down payment and staying employed in what has become an uncertain job market.
"Those are going to be bigger concerns than interest rates," Young told Homes.com.
Lisa Sturtevant, chief economist for Bright MLS, said this week that housing fundamentals remain strong, even as affordability woes affect the market.
"We are in a ‘wait-and-see' housing market as we head into 2026," she said in a statement Wednesday. "There are both buyers and sellers on the sidelines, watching not just where mortgage rates and the economy are headed, but also how confident they feel about their own personal situations.”
Mortgage applications for the week ending Nov. 21 were essentially flat from one week earlier, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. Refinancings fell 6% from the previous week but were up 117% from the same week one year ago.
“Despite slowing home price growth and lower mortgage rates, affordability remains a challenge in many markets, and government loan programs remain appealing to qualified buyers looking to purchase a home," Joel Kan, the trade group's deputy chief economist, said in a statement.