Mortgage Rates Hit 7.03 Percent and the Household Bill for Borrowing Just Stepped Up

The average 30-year fixed mortgage hit 7.03 percent in Freddie Mac's weekly survey on September 24, 2026, the first print above 7 percent since mid-January 2025. A year ago this week the same loan carried 6.30 percent. For a household borrowing $350,000, that gap is a real bill: the payment at 7.03 percent is about $2,336 a month, against $2,166 at 6.30 percent, or $170 more every month and roughly $61,000 more over the life of the loan. Nothing about the cost of living this autumn is squeezing harder than the price of money.

Key Takeaways Freddie Mac's 30-year fixed averaged 7.03 percent for the week of September 24, 2026, the highest since January 2025 and up from 6.30 percent a year earlie…