Today's Best Mortgage & Refinance Rates for July 6, 2020

On the surface, July should be positioned to be a blockbuster month for the housing market. Mortgage rates hit a new record low last week and the Bureau of Labor Statics reported the largest one-month job gain on record for June.

The reality, however, is much more complicated as coronavirus cases spike in many places, the unemployment rate remains extremely high and housing supply remains low.

Sam Khater, Freddie Mac's chief economist, noted that there has been a pullback in the purchase market over the last few weeks and that economic data had been pointing to an overall slowdown.

Data released by real estate platform Zillow Thursday, shows that new listings of the most affordable homes in the country are close to 30% below year-ago levels. On the other hand, new inventory at the high-end of the market has recovered much faster after a larger initial drop and are now just 9% below year-ago levels.

Average Mortgage Rates Today

For the week ending July 2, the average interest rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage set a new record low of 3.07% with 0.8 points paid, according to Freddie Mac. That's 0.06 percentage points below the previous low of 3.13%.

The average rate for a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage was 2.56% with 0.8 points paid, down 0.03 percentage points from the previous week, while the average rate on a 5-year adjustable-rate mortgage decreased to 3.00% with 0.3 points paid.

Average Refinance Rates Today

A year ago the average mortgage rate was 3.75%. A homeowner with a $250,000 mortgage balance paying 3.75% on a 30-year loan could cut their monthly payment from $1,158 to $1,063 by financing at today’s lower rates. (It is important to consider closing fees and that refinancing could reset the clock on your mortgage, meaning you will have to make payments longer.)

Today’s Mortgage Rates

Of course, mortgage rates vary widely by location and personal factors like location, the size of your down payment and your credit score. Here are today’s advertised mortgage rates at some of the mortgage industry’s largest lenders. (The rates you see may be different.)