WASHINGTON, April 23 - The average rate on the widely used 30-year fixed mortgage fell this week, though market participants see limited room for much larger declines as geopolitical tensions tied to a fragile truce between Washington and Iran persist.
Mortgage finance agency Freddie Mac reported on Thursday that the 30-year fixed mortgage rate averaged 6.23% this week, down from 6.30% a week earlier. By comparison, the rate had averaged 5.98% just before the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran at the end of February, a period when Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae expanded purchases of mortgage-backed securities.
Rates moved higher in March and early April, with the 30-year average spiking to 6.46% at the start of April. Mortgage rates generally follow movements in U.S. Treasuries, which have been largely range-bound amid the continuing uncertainty surrounding the truce between Washington and Iran.
Political and military developments have continued to influence market dynamics. On Tuesday, Trump indefinitely extended the ceasefire with Iran while a U.S. Navy blockade of Iranian ports remained in effect. On Thursday, Trump said he had ordered the U.S. Navy "to shoot and kill any boat" that is laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz, a comment that corresponded with a rise in global oil prices.
Those shifts in oil and Treasury yields are relevant because mortgage rates typically move in tandem with broader fixed-income markets. The recent expansion of purchases of mortgage-backed securities by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae contributed to lower borrowing costs earlier, but the subsequent geopolitical escalation helped reverse some of that easing.
At present, the path for further declines in the 30-year fixed mortgage rate appears constrained by the fragile ceasefire and associated military measures in the region. Market participants will be watching both Treasury yields and developments in the Strait of Hormuz for clues about the next leg in mortgage-rate direction.
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