Mortgage Rates Today, Apr. 28, 2025: No Peace for the Uncertain
The average 30-year fixed rate mortgage is 6.77% today, a decrease of 0.05% since yesterday. The 15-year fixed mortgage rate stands at 5.84%, down by 0.05%. The 30-year FHA mortgage now averages 6.12%, having dropped by 0.07. Meanwhile, the 30-year jumbo mortgage rate is 7.2%, reflecting a decrease of 0.03%.
The bigger picture
Mortgage rates have had a pretty good couple of weeks, closing last Friday well down from where they were 14 days earlier. But, unfortunately, we can't forget the first half of April, when they rose. Indeed, they start this morning higher than they did on Apr. 1.
Remember tariffs? It seems a long time ago, but it was they that caused mortgage rates to soar. Liberation Day was April 2, when high levies (reciprocal tariffs) against many countries were announced. Markets went wild, with stock indices, bond prices and the dollar all plunging.
A week later, on Apr. 9, a 90-day pause on most of the Liberation Day tariffs (but not those on Chinese imports) was unveiled. Markets immediately bounced back and have remained fairly buoyant since.
We expressed some skepticism at the time. Either America would negotiate trade deals with 90 countries in 90 days (it normally takes us 18 months to finalize a single deal), or we'd be back facing many high tariffs in mid-July. So far, no completed deals have been announced.
Over the weekend, Apollo laid out a scarier timetable. It noted that shipments from China plummeted from Apr. 2. It takes up to 50 days for a container from China to reach an American port and be transported to retailers in cities.
So, Apollo forecasts that we'll begin to encounter empty shelves in stores from mid- to late-May. During late May and early June, Apollo expects to see layoffs in the trucking and retail sectors. And it thinks we'll be in recession during the summer.
Yes, Apollo could be wrong. Some of its assumptions might be faulty, or circumstances might quickly change. But we would suggest that it could be a mistake to rely on the recent sunny mood in markets lasting long.
Mortgage Rate Trends: Past 90 Days
Purchase Rates
| Loan Type | Rate | APR | Daily Change | Monthly Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30-Year Fixed | 6.77% | 6.81% | -0.05% | +0.04% |
| 15-Year Fixed | 5.84% | 5.89% | -0.05% | +0.09% |
| 30-Year Fixed FHA | 6.12% | 7.32% | -0.07% | +0.15% |
| 30-Year Fixed VA | 6.25% | 6.4% | -0.06% | +0.18% |
| 30-Year Fixed USDA | 6.23% | 6.37% | -0.22% | +0.15% |
| 30-Year Fixed Jumbo | 7.2% | 7.22% | -0.03% | +0.08% |
| 5/6 Year ARM | 6.74% | 6.79% | -0.07% | -0.04% |
Refinance Rates
| Loan Type | Rate | APR | Daily Change | Monthly Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30-Year Fixed | 6.87% | 6.9% | -0.03% | +0.03% |
| 15-Year Fixed | 5.84% | 5.89% | -0.05% | +0.11% |
| 30-Year Fixed FHA | 6.12% | 7.32% | -0.06% | +0.15% |
| 30-Year Fixed VA | 6.34% | 6.48% | -0.06% | +0.18% |
| 5/6 Year ARM | 6.87% | 6.91% | -0.03% | +0.01% |
Coming up
Although economic reports are usually the main drivers of changes to mortgage rates, they're not the only ones. The general mood in markets and economically consequential news can also affect those rates — as we've seen frequently recently.
Mortgage rates today
There are no economic reports on today's MarketWatch economic calendar. But this week could bring plenty of excitement, culminating in Friday's jobs report for April.
Other important ones include tomorrow's consumer confidence index and Wednesday's first reading of gross domestic product (GDP) in the first quarter of this year.
As always, we'll brief you on all the important ones before they're published.
