Published: 2026-10-12
U.S. 30-year fixed mortgage rates have been surveyed every week since April 1971. The record is a series of cycles, not a straight line down or a straight line up.
The figures below are annual averages of Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey weekly readings, calculated from the weekly file Freddie Mac publishes. They describe that survey's conventional conforming purchase average. They are not today's offer, not an APR, and not a forecast. For how to read a current quote, start with the current mortgage rates guide.
How far back does the record go?
Freddie Mac has published a weekly 30-year fixed average since April 1971. The historical profile was a first-lien conventional conforming purchase loan with a loan-to-value of 80 percent and strong credit. In November 2022 Freddie Mac stopped phoning lenders and began computing the average from applications submitted through Loan Product Advisor. The older weekly history remains the public record.
The partial-year average for 1971, which starts in April, is 7.54 percent. By 1979 the annual average was 11.20 percent. Borrowing costs across that decade rose with inflation, and the mortgage average rose with them.
What did the 1980s actually look like?
The annual average peaked in 1981 at 16.64 percent. The week of October 9, 1981 is the highest single reading in the file, at 18.63 percent. The 1982 average was still 16.04 percent. Across 1980 through 1989, the average of the yearly averages is about 12.70 percent.
Those are survey averages for a well-qualified conventional borrower putting 20 percent down. A borrower with weaker credit, or a smaller down payment, would not have been offered the survey rate.
The drop from that peak was not finished in one year. The 1990 average was still 10.13 percent. The 1990s as a whole averaged about 8.12 percent.
When did rates spend years under 5 percent?
The 2000s averaged about 6.29 percent. Inside that decade the 2003 average was 5.83 percent, and 2009 was 5.04 percent. The 2010s then settled lower. The average of yearly averages from 2010 through 2019 is about 4.09 percent. The 2012 average was 3.66 percent.
The trough in this file is recent. The 2020 average was 3.11 percent. The 2021 average was 2.96 percent, the lowest full year in the series. The week of January 7, 2021 printed 2.65 percent, the lowest week in the file.
Anyone who bought or refinanced in 2020 or 2021 locked a loan in that trough. Anyone shopping later is comparing a new quote with a neighbor's older loan. Those are different contracts. The survey does not say one of them was "right."
Where do the 2020s sit in that history?
The climb out of the trough was fast. The 2022 average was 5.34 percent. The 2023 average was 6.81 percent. The 2024 average was 6.72 percent. The 2025 average was 6.60 percent. Through the October 8, 2026 reading, the partial-year 2026 average of weekly prints is 6.46 percent. That year already includes a week at 5.98 percent and a week at 7.40 percent.
The October 8, 2026 week itself was 7.40 percent, up from 7.28 percent the week before. A year earlier, the survey's matching week averaged 6.30 percent. The weeks of September 24, October 1, and October 8, 2026 are the first weeks of that year at or above 7 percent.
Place 7.40 percent next to the anchors and it is easier to see:
- It is far below the 1981 average of 16.64 percent and the 18.63 percent week.
- It is above every full year of the 2010s and above the 2020 and 2021 averages.
- It is in the same neighborhood as the late 1990s. The 1998 average was 6.94 percent, and the 2000 average was 8.05 percent.
"High" is a comparison. Against a 2021 loan, recent averages look high. Against a 1981 loan, they look low. Neither comparison tells you whether a payment fits your income.
How should you use this history?
Two slogans do not survive the file. The 1980s were far higher than recent readings. A return to the 2021 average would be a prediction, and this history does not make predictions.
Use the file for a budget check. Take the loan amount you are considering and price the payment at a rate you were actually quoted, in the mortgage calculator. Then read the current mortgage rates page so you know which average a headline is quoting. The market update is the running series for the latest week.
Averages also hide the borrower. PMMS is built around a strong-credit, conforming purchase profile. Your quote can sit above or below the average because of credit score, down payment, loan type, and points. The credit score guide covers one of those reasons. A rate lock fixes one application for a window of days. It does not rewind the market to another year.
Price a payment you were actually quoted in the mortgage calculator, and read how averages are built on the current mortgage rates page.
For what can move the average after this history, see Where Are Mortgage Rates Headed Next?.
This article is educational and is not a loan offer or financial advice.
Sources
- Freddie Mac, Primary Mortgage Market Survey weekly history file, 30-year fixed series beginning April 2, 1971. Annual averages on this page are the arithmetic mean of the weekly pmms30 readings in that file: https://www.freddiemac.com/pmms/docs/PMMS_history.csv
- Freddie Mac, PMMS page, including the October 8, 2026 release (30-year average 7.40 percent, prior week 7.28 percent, year-earlier week 6.30 percent) and the survey description: https://www.freddiemac.com/pmms
- Freddie Mac, "Freddie Mac's Newly Enhanced Mortgage Rate Survey Explained," November 3, 2022, on the pre-2022 survey design and the switch to Loan Product Advisor applications: https://www.freddiemac.com/research/insight/20221103-freddie-macs-newly-enhanced-mortgage-rate-survey