housing

Mortgage Rates Hit 6.95 Percent and Locked-In Sellers Are Not Biting

Published September 24, 20265 min read

A blank yard sign stakes a quiet suburban lawn at golden hour, a house softly blurred behind it — As mortgage rates climb toward 7%, would-be sellers are staying put rather than cutting prices to move. Illustration: MarketIntelLabs

The 30-year fixed mortgage rate averaged 6.95 percent in the week of September 17, 2026, per Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey, the highest weekly average in roughly a year and a full 97 basis points above the 5.98 percent low recorded in late February. This is not a spike. Rates have climbed for six of the past seven weeks, from 6.58 percent on July 23 to 6.71 on September 3, 6.76 on September 10, and now 6.95. The housing market had spent most of 2026 slowly recovering from the rate shock of 2025. The last three weeks have taken most of that recovery back.

Takeaways: The 30-year fixed averaged 6.95 percent in the September 17 Freddie Mac survey, the highest in about a year. The p…

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