Homebuyers are welcoming something they haven't seen since 2022: mortgage rates below 6%. The reduction could offer home hunters some financial breathing room as the spring home-buying season gets started.

The benchmark 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rate fell to 5.98% from 6.01% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. One year ago, the rate averaged 6.76%.

The average rate has been hovering close to 6% this year. This latest dip, its third decline in a row, brings it to its lowest level since Sept. 8, 2022, when it was 5.89%.

At the start of the pandemic, mortgage rates hit historic lows — with borrowers able to secure terms below 3% — as the Federal Reserve slashed its benchmark rate. But mortgage rates soared to above 7% in 2023 as the Fed boosted rates to tame the highest inflation in 40 years, pricing some homebuyers out of the market.

Mortgage rates have been trending lower for months, in part because the Fed cut rates last fall and amid shifting economic factors. While that helped drive a pickup in home sales the final four months of 2025, it hasn't been enough to lift the housing market out of its post-pandemic slump.

"Assuming rates stay below 6%, buyers and sellers are going to start getting back into the market," said Lisa Sturtevant, chief economist at Bright MLS. "March is when the spring home-buying season typically begins to ramp up and with rates at a three-and-a-half year low, it could be a barn burner of a spring home-buying season."

Mortgage rates are influenced by several factors, from the Fed's interest rate policy decisions to bond market investors' expectations for the economy and inflation. They generally follow the trajectory of the 10-year Treasury yield, which lenders use as a guide to pricing home loans.

The 10-year Treasury yield was at 4.02% at midday Thursday, down from around 4.07% a week ago.

The Trump administration is also tackling home affordability, with the president last month directing the federal government to purchase $200 billion in mortgage bonds to drive down mortgage rates. Additionally, the White House is urging lawmakers to ban institutional buyers from purchasing single-family homes to ease competitive pressures on individual buyers.

Housing affordability
Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes remained stuck last year at 30-year lows. And more buyer-friendly mortgage rates weren't enough to lift home sales last month, with sales posting the biggest monthly drop in nearly four years and the slowest annualized sales pace in more than two years.

But with the average rate on a 30-year mortgage now below 6%, the dip could encourage prospective home shoppers who can afford to buy at current rates to shop for a home this spring.

To be sure, home affordability has been impacted by more than borrowing costs. A sharp run-up in home prices, especially in the early years of this decade, and a chronic shortage of homes across the U.S., worsened by years of below-average home construction, priced many would-be buyers out of the market.

That's put the focus on mortgage rates, which can boost home shoppers' purchasing power when they come down, but also reduce how much homebuyers can afford when rates rise.

Depending on a borrower's income, credit and other factors, they may qualify for a rate on a 30-year mortgage that is below or above the current average.

Locked into lower rates
Still, mortgage rates may have to fall further to motivate homeowners to sell now if they locked in or refinanced their mortgage earlier this decade to a rate far below current rates.

Consider that nearly 69% of U.S. homes with an outstanding mortgage have a fixed rate of 5% or lower, and slightly more than half have a rate at or below 4%, according to Realtor.com.

Meanwhile, borrowing costs on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, popular with homeowners refinancing their home loans, rose this week. That average rate rose to 5.44% from 5.35% last week. A year ago, it was at 5.94%, Freddie Mac said.

Homeowners have increasingly opted to refinance as mortgage rates have eased, a trend that continued last week.

Mortgage applications edged up 0.4% last week from the previous week, with much of the increase due to homeowners applying for loans to refinance their existing mortgage, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. Applications for mortgage refinancing loans made up 58.6% of all applications, up from 57.4% the previous week.

More home shoppers are opting for adjustable-rate mortgages, or ARMs, which typically offer lower initial interest rates than traditional 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages. ARMs accounted for 8.2% of all mortgage applications last week, the MBA said.

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