--- title: Mortgage Rates Below 6%? Don't Hold Your Breath description: Mortgage rates will likely remain above 6% for two years, MBA forecasts, as housing prices cool slightly. authors: - name: Adam Hardy role: Lead Data Reporter url: https://money.com/author/adam-hardy/ bio: Adam Hardy is a lead data journalist at Money, where he frequently reports on financial barriers that affect low-income Americans. Adam’s work has also appeared in Business Insider, Forbes, Nasdaq, The Penny Hoarder, Yahoo! Finance and more than a dozen local and regional newspapers. education: University of South Florida, BA, Magazine Journalism at_money_since: 2021 articles: 501 covers: - Mortgages - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Debt - Economy and Politics - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Personal Finance - Pets - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology also_seen_in: - The Penny Hoarder - Forbes Advisor - Creative Loafing - The New York Times - The Washington Post - Bloomberg - Harvard Law School - The Federal Register - National Consumer Law Center - CBS News - Becker's Hospital Review - Business Insider - Mother Jones - The Week - Fortune - The Philadelphia Inquirer - National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NAFSAA) - Education Advisory Board (EAB) - The Institute for College Access & Success (TICAS) - This Morning with Gordon Deal - Empower - Reddit social: - https://www.x.com/hardyjournalism - https://www.linkedin.com/in/hardyjournalism/ editors: - name: Katherine Peach role: Associate Editor url: https://money.com/author/katherine-peach/ bio: Katherine Peach is an associate editor with a focus on news and email at Money. She didn’t always intend to write about money. She’s a classically trained pianist who dreamed of becoming an archaeologist. However, in 2007 Katherine began working in financial publishing as an editor for Agora Inc. (Apparently, unearthing ideas about improving your personal finances isn’t such a bad career alternative!) Katherine’s writing and editing work has been featured in Investing Daily, Clever, Investor Junkie, The Palm Beach Letter, Truth & Plenty, Independence Monthly, NICHE, AmericanStyle, AntiqueWeek, Millennial Money, Money Done Right, TheStreet, Sure Dividend and many others. Katherine holds a Bachelor of Arts in Ancient Studies with concentrations in Archaeology and Ancient Languages and a minor in Literature from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. She is a member of Phi Beta Kappa. education: University of Maryland, Baltimore County at_money_since: 2025 articles: 14 covers: - Mortgages - Banking - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Debt - Economy and Politics - Education - Federal Reserve Rate Cuts - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Personal Finance - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes published: '2025-10-23T20:36:52.000Z' modified: '2025-10-23T20:36:52.000Z' section: Mortgages tags: - News word_count: 530 canonical: https://money.com/mortgage-rates-stay-above-6-percent/ type: NewsArticle source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We may earn a fee if you click on the links below. Compensation does not determine ranking. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![Photo-illustration of a house sitting on stacks of money](https://img.money.com/2025/10/News-6-Percent-Mortgage-Here-to-Stay.jpg) If you’re waiting for mortgage rates to noticeably fall, don’t hold your breath. Fixed rates for a 30-year mortgage are expected to stay above 6% for at least the next two years, according to a Mortgage Bankers Association, or MBA, forecast unveiled at the group’s annual conference earlier this week. According to Money’s [daily mortgage rate](https://money.com/current-mortgage-rates/) survey, the 30-year fixed rate is 6.3% as of Thursday. And despite a long-awaited short-term [interest rate cut from the Federal Reserve](https://money.com/fed-rate-cut-impact-september-2025/) last month, the MBA isn’t expecting mortgage rates to budge much anytime soon. Mike Fratantoni, chief economist at MBA, highlighted some silver linings at the conference. “While mortgage rates are not expected to decline further,” he said, “housing supply has increased in recent months, which will ease home-price growth.” In September, the typical sales price of a home ticked down to $363,000, while mortgage payments (assuming a 20% down payment and not including taxes or insurance) also decreased slightly to $1,812, the lowest point this year, according to Zillow [data](https://www.zillow.com/research/data/). Interest rates are the sticking point for many Americans. The MBA’s projections are the latest in a series of reports that indicate homebuyers and sellers should get comfortable with mortgage rates around 6%. A recent [analysis](https://www.redfin.com/news/rate-lock-q2-2025/) by Redfin found that about 1 in 5 homeowners have a mortgage rate of 6% or higher, and the real estate company expects rates to stay above that level for at least the next 12 months. A [September forecast](https://www.fanniemae.com/newsroom/fannie-mae-news/mortgage-rates-expected-move-below-6-percent-end-2026) by Fannie Mae, the government-sponsored mortgage group, was slightly more optimistic, projecting that mortgage rates could fall to 5.9% by the end of 2026. Laurie Goodman, founder of Urban Institute’s Housing Finance Policy Center, [previously told Money](https://money.com/us-homeowners-6-percent-mortgage-rates-highest-decade/) that she expects the housing market to "remain muted" until rates are 5.8% or lower. “Remember, there are a lot of borrowers out there with very low rates," she said. And many aren't ready to give them up just yet. ## Why are mortgage rates still so high? Following a sub-3% stretch during the pandemic, mortgage rates broke the 6% threshold in September 2022 and haven’t looked back. Soaring inflation had a lot to do with that, but as price growth moderates around 3% and the Fed begins cutting interest rates again, many are wondering why mortgage rates remain above 6%. The simple answer is: The Fed doesn’t directly control mortgage rates. In fact, when the Fed made its first rate cut last month, mortgage rates actually ticked up briefly. That’s because mortgage rates closely track the 10-year Treasury yield, which is a benchmark for long-term interest rates. According to wealth management firm JMG Financial Group, key reasons why long-term interest rates are [expected to stay elevated include](https://www.jmgfinancial.com/why-did-10-year-treasury-yields-increase-after-the-initial-fed-interest-rate-cut/) long-term inflation expectations and a growth in the federal deficit. For homebuyers, that unfortunately means the days of 3% mortgages are long gone. Mortgage rate data [going back to the 1970s](https://www.freddiemac.com/pmms) suggests that was a once-in-a-lifetime blip, and that mortgage rates above 6% have historically been the norm. ## Buy your home with more convenience and less hassle ![View Rates](https://s3.consumersadvocate.org/prd/image/image/38130/medium_29a2a129-cf1d-4fcb-a92d-901b0c9bf0f6.webp) Our Partner [View Rates](https://money.com/go/e0477c61d0ec?bidid=4111666931&pmeta=p129-c488-u36862&ptid=670493945&ptoken=f1acf65b8879938cc202621fd2794614) ![View Rates](https://s3.consumersadvocate.org/prd/image/image/39711/medium_85521de9-b6c5-4b35-a129-169c217d0287.webp) Our Partner [View Rates](https://money.com/go/d37c214e2bb5?bidid=4111666933&pmeta=p129-c488-u36862&ptid=670493945&ptoken=aae47e061a9de246c48aa87c5f6a49b2) ![View Rates](https://s3.consumersadvocate.org/prd/image/image/34120/medium_4ba40e39-00f6-4f3e-9a12-67943aa4166f.webp) Our Partner [View Rates](https://money.com/go/fc04820ad2ae?bidid=4111666932&pmeta=p129-c488-u36862&ptid=670493945&ptoken=d111277a82e925b42f10a4c564ab9ca1) ![](https://s3.consumersadvocate.org/prd/image/image/26681/medium_57f09f10-efb8-487d-a73e-5f7d605144eb.png) Imagine finally owning your dream home — Rocket Mortgage (NMLS #3030) can help! [View Rates](https://money.com/pr/t39f99e0e0ab?ap_referrer=%2Fmortgage-rates-stay-above-6-percent%2F) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/mortgage-rates-stay-above-6-percent/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Mortgages", "item": "https://money.com/mortgages/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Mortgage Rates", "item": "https://money.com/mortgage-rates/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Mortgage Rates Below 6%? 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