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Mortgage Rates Today, Dec. 26, 2024: Another Quiet Day Likely

Home sold sign 4: mortgage rates today

The average 30-year fixed rate mortgage is 7.02% today, an increase of 0.04% since yesterday. The 15-year fixed mortgage rate stands at 6.08%, up by 0.05%. The 30-year FHA mortgage now averages 6.29%, having risen by 0.02. Meanwhile, the 30-year jumbo mortgage rate is 7.04%, reflecting an increase of 0.04%.

In brief

Why hope that today is a quiet one for mortgage rates? That's because we've been seeing more rises than falls recently. So, a boring day is less likely to bring bad news than a normal one.

There are good grounds for hoping mortgage rates today won't move far. But there are never any guarantees.

The holiday season can sometimes create volatility. That's partly because the volume of trading in bond markets (including the one that largely determines mortgage rates) tends to be lower than usual at such times. And relatively small trades can create appreciable movements.

The other occasional cause of volatility over the holiday season is the skeleton staffs that often remain on Wall Street. Typically, it's the more seasoned investors with the cooler heads who take extended breaks. And those remaining might get carried away by economically significant events.

So, such times of year can be unpredictable. However, we see no reason to expect mortgage rates to change much, absent some shocking news.

Mortgage Rate Trends: Past 90 Days

Purchase Rates

Loan Type Rate APR Daily Change Monthly Change
30-Year Fixed 7.02% 7.05% +0.04% +0.21%
15-Year Fixed 6.08% 6.14% +0.05% +0.21%
30-Year Fixed FHA 6.29% 7.12% +0.02% +0.22%
30-Year Fixed VA 6.28% 6.44% +0% +0.21%
30-Year Fixed USDA 6.63% 6.81% +0% +0.68%
30-Year Fixed Jumbo 7.04% 7.06% +0.04% -0.25%
5/6 Year ARM 6.93% 6.97% +0% +0.29%

Refinance Rates

Loan Type Rate APR Daily Change Monthly Change
30-Year Fixed 7.07% 7.1% +0.02% +0.29%
15-Year Fixed 6.06% 6.12% +0.04% +0.34%
30-Year Fixed FHA 6.26% 7.09% +0.02% +0.21%
30-Year Fixed VA 6.27% 6.43% +0.01% +0.2%
5/6 Year ARM 6.97% 7% +0% +0.27%
How we source rates and rate trends.

Coming up

Mortgage rates today and tomorrow

Mortgage rates today are unlikely to be driven by this morning's lone economic report. It's the number of new claims for unemployment benefits during the week ending Dec. 21. They're expected to barely move, just inching up to 225,000 from the previous week's 220,000, according to MarketWatch.

Weekly numbers are by their nature volatile and most times markets shrug them off.

Tomorrow brings three reports. But they're typically so inconsequential that MarketWatch doesn't even quote market expectations. For the record, they're all November reports and cover:

⇉ Advanced U.S. trade balance in goods
⇉ Advanced retail inventories
⇉ Advanced wholesale inventories

Next week

Next week's reports are almost as boring as this week's were. There's a purchasing managers' index (PMI) that Friday but the others rarely affect mortgage rates.

Things get much more interesting the following week, which starts on Jan. 6.
About The Author:

Peter Warden has been covering mortgage, real estate, and personal finance for 15 years. He has appeared on The Mortgage Reports, Credit Sesame, Bills.com, and other publications.

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