Thu, Jun 12, 2025, 9:07 AM1 min read

Mortgage rates held essentially flat this week as Treasury yields moved slightly lower.

The average 30-year mortgage rate was 6.84% this week through Wednesday, according to Freddie Mac data, from 6.85% a week ago. The average 15-year mortgage rate was 5.97%, from 5.99%.

“Rate stability, improving inventory, and slower house price growth are an encouraging combination,” Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist, said in a statement.

Although there was little mortgage rate movement, the 10-year Treasury yield, which mortgage rates generally track, drifted lower this week, particularly on Wednesday after traders boosted the odds of a Fed rate cut later this year following a benign May inflation report.

Though the Fed doesn’t directly control mortgage rates, their direction is influenced by expectations about future Fed moves. Traders now broadly expect the central bank to cut interest rates in September, according to CME FedWatch data.

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Mortgage rates have spent much of 2025 stuck in the high 6% area. That steadiness has convinced some homebuyers to barrel ahead with purchases as for-sale inventory improves.

Applications to purchase a home were up 10% from a week earlier through Friday, and refinancing applications jumped 16%, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association — which attributes the increase in part to improving for-sale inventory levels. More than 1 million homes were active on the market as of May, the highest level since late 2019.

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“Despite continued affordability challenges, higher inventory levels are bringing more buyers into the market,” MBA President and CEO Bob Broeksmit said in a statement.

Claire Boston is a Senior Reporter for Yahoo Finance covering housing, mortgages, and home insurance.

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