The average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage rose to 7.28% this week, up from 7.03% a week earlier. Freddie Mac published the figure at noon Eastern on Thursday, October 1, 2026, in its weekly Primary Mortgage Market Survey. The 15-year average rose to 6.60% from 6.42%.
A quarter-point move in a single week is unusual, and this one leaves the 30-year average higher than it has been in almost three years.
What did the survey say?
Freddie Mac reported that the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage “averaged 7.28% as of October 1, 2026, up from last week when it averaged 7.03%.” A year earlier the same average was 6.34%. The 15-year average, at 6.60%, compares with 5.55% a year ago.
The commentary published with the numbers does not give a reason for the increase. It says only that “with mortgage rates on their current trajectory, the housing market continues to be supported by favorable economic conditions.”
Two details about the survey matter when reading it. The averages come from mortgage rates on applications submitted to Freddie Mac through Loan Product Advisor, its underwriting system, from lenders across the country. And each Thursday release covers rates offered the prior Thursday through Wednesday, so the 7.28% describes the week that ended September 30, not the rate a lender will quote today.
How unusual is a one-week jump like this?
Rare, by the survey's own record. Freddie Mac publishes the full weekly history back to April 1971. In roughly 2,900 weeks since then, the 30-year average has moved a quarter point or more from the week before about 98 times, or about one week in 30.
The last increase that large was the week of October 13, 2022, when the average rose 0.26 point to 6.92%. Counting moves in either direction, the last one was a drop of 0.26 point in the week of August 8, 2024.
The week-to-week climb has been building for a while. The 30-year average was 6.65% on August 20, then 6.76% on September 10, 6.95% on September 17 and 7.03% on September 24. The last weekly average at or above 7.28% was 7.29% on November 22, 2023.
What does a quarter point add to a payment?
On a new 30-year loan, the difference between 7.03% and 7.28% looks like this. These are principal and interest only, with no taxes, insurance or mortgage insurance:
| At 7.03% | At 7.28% | Added each month | |
|---|---|---|---|
| $150,000 loan | $1,001 | $1,026 | +$25 |
| $225,000 loan | $1,501 | $1,539 | +$38 |
| $300,000 loan | $2,002 | $2,053 | +$51 |
| $400,000 loan | $2,669 | $2,737 | +$68 |
These are example figures, not a quote.
What doesn't change?
A fixed-rate mortgage you already have. The rate on a closed loan is set for its term, and a weekly survey average has no effect on it. A rate you have already locked with a lender is governed by that lock agreement, not by this week's average.
The survey average is also not an offer. It describes what lenders were quoting, on average, to borrowers whose applications went through one system. The rate a particular borrower is quoted depends on credit score, down payment, property type and points paid, and loans on rental property usually price above loans on a home the borrower lives in.
The Federal Reserve does not set these rates either. The Fed raised its benchmark rate a quarter point on September 16, but as the Fed's own explanation of how its policy works puts it, rates on longer-term loans are related to expectations for policy and the economy over the life of the loan, “not just to the current level of the federal funds rate.”
What does it mean if you invest in real estate?
It changes the arithmetic on a purchase you have not closed. Take a $300,000 rental bought with 25% down, so a $225,000 loan over 30 years, renting for $2,500 a month, with $3,200 in property taxes and $1,600 in insurance a year, 5% set aside for vacancy and 5% each for maintenance and capital expenses, plus 8% management.
At 7.03% the payment is $1,501 and the property clears about $24 a month. At 7.28% the payment is $1,539 and the same property loses about $14 a month. Nothing about the building changed, only the loan.
The ratio lenders watch moves too. That example's debt service coverage ratio, its annual net operating income divided by its annual loan payments, slips from 1.02 to 0.99, which puts it under the 1.0 line where income no longer covers the payment. Here is what counts as a good DSCR, how each quarter point changes a rental's cash flow, and what to do about a rental that loses money every month.
What happens next?
- Thursday, October 8, at noon Eastern: the next weekly survey average. Freddie Mac releases the survey weekly on Thursdays at 12 p.m. Eastern.
- October 27 and 28: the Federal Reserve's next policy meeting, on its meeting calendar.
- December 8 and 9: the last meeting of 2026, when Fed officials also publish new projections.
If you are working a deal right now, run it at the rate your lender is quoting this week rather than the one you started with, and check whether the payment still clears your cash flow and the lender's coverage test.