Freddie Mac's weekly Primary Mortgage Market Survey came out this morning with the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaging 6.37% — up from 6.30% a week ago and the second consecutive weekly climb. The 15-year fixed averaged 5.72%. A year ago, the 30-year sat at 6.76%, so we are still below where we were 12 months back, just not by as much as homebuyers had hoped.
If you're house-hunting right now, the gap between 6.30% and 6.37% might sound trivial. It isn't, and our calculators show you exactly why.
Take a $400,000 loan amount on a 30-year fixed at 6.30%: the principal-and-interest payment is about $2,476/month. At 6.37%, the same loan runs $2,494/month — an $18 monthly difference, or roughly $6,500 over the life of the loan. Plug your own numbers into the Mortgage Calculator and you'll see this directly. Sevens basis points isn't a rounding error when the loan is large and the term is long.
Rate moves don't just change payments — they change how much house you can qualify to buy. Most lenders cap your debt-to-income ratio around 43% (the QM threshold), with the housing portion typically capped around 28% of gross monthly income. The Home Affordability Calculator reverses the math: given your income and debts, it tells you the maximum loan amount that fits in those caps at today's rate.
At 6.30% with a $100,000 household income and minimal other debt, you might qualify for around $355,000 in mortgage principal. At 6.37%, the same income qualifies for roughly $352,000. Over weeks of rising rates, that compounds into tens of thousands of dollars of lost purchasing power, even when monthly payments barely seem to move.
With the 15-year fixed at 5.72%, the spread between terms is 65 basis points. On that same $400,000 loan, the 15-year payment is roughly $3,322/month versus $2,494/month on the 30-year — you pay $828 more per month, but you save about $230,000 in lifetime interest and own the house outright a decade and a half earlier. Our 15-year vs 30-year mortgage comparison puts both side by side with full amortization tables so you can see the trade-off honestly.
If you're buying this season, lock when the numbers work for your specific situation rather than trying to time the weekly survey. Freddie's chief economist noted improving new-home inventory and softer new-home prices may modestly ease affordability through spring, even with rates climbing. Run your full picture — payment, affordability, closing costs, PMI — through the tools below before you commit to a rate lock. The math doesn't change just because the headline did.
Run the full mortgage math. Plug today's 6.37% rate into the Mortgage Calculator for your monthly payment, the Home Affordability Calculator for what you can qualify for, and our 15-year vs 30-year comparison to see both terms side by side.
Related tools: Mortgage Calculator · Home Affordability Calculator · 15-yr vs 30-yr Comparison · Refinance Calculator · Amortization Calculator