10/12/2026
Rates moved up again. The 30 year fixed is averaging 7.40 percent, up from 7.28 last week and 6.30 a year ago. The 15 year is at 6.73.
Here is what that actually does, and it is not what people assume.
It does not stop people from buying. It changes what they can buy. On a 400,000 dollar home, the jump from a year ago is real money, closer to a car insurance payment than a dinner out. I am not going to pretend otherwise. But it does not necessarily cancel somebody’s move. It moves them from the house with the finished garage to the one without it.
Buyers do not disappear when rates go up. They drop down a price bracket. If your house is priced at the very top of your range, those are the buyers you just lost, and they went to the listing below you.
And if you are buying, know which number you are stuck with. You can refinance a rate. You cannot refinance a price.
Call me and we will run your real numbers at today’s rate, not the one you remember from two years ago.