Today's Mortgage Rates - 04/17/2025

Mortgage Rate Bounceback

As expected, mortgage rates rebounded last week, returning to mid-late February levels.

As reported by Freddie Mac today, that the average offered interest rate for a conforming 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) leapt by twenty-one basis points (0.21%) this week, bounding back up to 6.83%. Uncertainty regarding trade policy roiled markets last week, fueling concerns that higher inflation may be on its way again.

Average offered rates for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages pushed higher by a like amount, with the 21-basis point increase lifting the most popular shorter-term mortgage rate back over the six percent mark to 6.03% for the week.

A 5/1 ARM might offer a homebuyer a lower-cost alternative to a long-term fixed-rate mortgage, but the difference in rate between 30-year FRMs and 5-year hybrid ARMs widened a little this week again. The Mortgage Bankers Association said that the initial fixed interest rate on a hybrid 5-year ARM rose by eighteen basis points (0.18%), moving up to 6.11%. Even with the rise, the gap in rate compared to a 30-year FRM expanded to seventy-two basis points (0.72%). On a $300,000 mortgage, a borrower using this ARM would see a $142 lower payment per month and would save almost $11,000 in interest over the first five years of the loan.

While financial markets have calmed in recent days, it would be wrong to think the storm is over, with a resumption of turmoil just a press conference or even tweet away, and there is still no clarity as to where trade and tariff policy will end up. That said, it is also true the investors appear to have relaxed at least somewhat, and the influential yields that underpin mortgage pricing have retraced a portion of the considerable increase seen in the last couple of weeks.

It helps that the latest Consumer and Producer Price Indexes came in on the softer side, too, and that outsized tariffs imposed on many trading partners were postponed for 90 days in favor of a 10% rate, excepting goods coming from China. Such detente didn't seem likely after these levies were announced and imposed, and lend hope that negotiations over the next few months will mute their ultimate impact on inflation. We'll see how that all turns out in time.

On a nearer-term basis, mortgage rates seem to have settled back a little over the last couple of days, but tenuously. As such, mortgage borrowers may see slightly lower rate in the market over the next few days, although not as low as they were just a couple weeks ago.

Each week in HSH's MarketTrends newsletter, we track and discuss economic conditions that affect mortgage rates and their impact on housing markets and consumers. Read the most recent edition of MarketTrends or subscribe for email delivery.