Today's Best Mortgage & Refinance Rates for July 9, 2020

Mortgage rates reached a new all-time low and homebuyer demand remained strong.

Monthly visits to Realtor.com's website reached an all-time high of 86 million unique users for the month of June, according to information from the real estate platform's Housing Market Recovery Index. Meanwhile, total housing inventory was down 31% over the previous week.

"All-time low mortgage rates and easing job losses have boosted buyer confidence back to pre-pandemic levels," said Javier Vivas, Realtor.com's director of economic research. "While buyers are back, growth in home sales this summer will be constrained by the slow return of sellers and the limited amount of homes hitting the market."

Mortgage loan applications increased for the first time in three weeks, as buyers and homeowners took advantage of record-low rates. Purchase applications increased 5% over the previous week for the seven-days ending July 3 and 33% over the previous year, while refinance applications rose 0.04%—111% over a year ago, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association's latest weekly survey. The average purchase loan size increased to $365,700—also a high, as limited supply pushed home prices higher.

Average Mortgage Rates Today

For the week ending July 9, the average interest rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage set a new record low of 3.03% with 0.8 points paid, according to Freddie Mac. That's 0.04 percentage points below the previous low of 3.07%, set a week earlier.

The average rate for a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage was 2.51% with 0.8 points paid, down 0.05 percentage points from the previous week, while the average rate on a 5-year adjustable-rate mortgage increased to 3.02% 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 $1,058 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.)