WASHINGTON, DC — Mortgage rates have stayed above 6.5% for most of the last four months, and the latest weekly reading moved a little higher again. Freddie Mac said on Aug. 27 that the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate was 6.66%, up one basis point from the prior week.
The 15-year fixed rate also inched up. Freddie Mac put that average at 5.98% for the week, three basis points above the previous week and 29 basis points higher than a year earlier. One year ago, in August 2025, the average 30-year rate was 6.56%, which was 10 basis points lower than the current level.
What The Data Shows
Freddie Mac’s weekly survey is the main gauge in this story, and the numbers point to a market that has not found much downward momentum. The 52-week range Freddie Mac listed as of Aug. 27, 2026, ran from 5.98% to 6.69% for 30-year fixed loans and from 5.35% to 6.04% for 15-year fixed loans.
The article also points to broader market pressure. The 10-year Treasury yield, which mortgage rates tend to track more closely than the Fed’s short-term rate, closed at 4.66% on Aug. 26, up from 4.22% a year earlier. That leaves a spread of about two percentage points between the Treasury yield and the current average 30-year mortgage rate.
Why Rates Are Sticky
Several market forces are keeping borrowing costs from easing much, according to mortgage and investment executives quoted in the piece. Melissa Cohn of William Raveis Mortgage said inflation and the expanding federal deficit are weighing on the bond market, noting that the national debt recently topped $40 trillion and the federal deficit is around $1.8 trillion for fiscal 2026.
Alex Michalka of Wealthfront said steady unemployment, firm retail sales, and healthy GDP growth make it less likely that rates fall soon. The Federal Reserve cut its benchmark rate three times in 2025 but has left it unchanged so far in 2026, including at its July 29 meeting. Wall Street traders are now pricing in a possible quarter-point hike later this year, with October and December mentioned as the most likely windows.
What Buyers Face Next
For home shoppers, the piece argues that waiting for mortgage rates alone to fall may not solve affordability problems. Home prices remain elevated because buyers still outnumber available homes in many price ranges, especially for first-time buyers. The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis data cited in the story shows the median sale price of single-family homes rising from $208,400 in the first quarter of 2009 to $410,700 in the second quarter of 2026.
The practical takeaway is that buyers will need to watch both rates and prices, not just one or the other. The article says some housing markets are flattening or easing, but it does not identify a national turnaround. Readers who want the latest numbers can check Freddie Mac’s weekly mortgage survey, Treasury yield data, and local home-price reports for their own metro area.
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