30-year mortgage rate falls to 6.19%, lowest since Oct 3, 2024

The average rate on a 30-year U.S. mortgage fell this week to 6.19 percent, its lowest level in more than a year, Freddie Mac said Thursday, offering a window of somewhat cheaper borrowing for prospective homebuyers and refinancers. The decline extends a three-week run that brought the benchmark down from 6.27 percent the previous week and to its lowest level since Oct. 3, 2024.

The move was driven largely by declines in the 10-year Treasury yield, which traders use as a benchmark for long-term loan pricing and was trading just under 4 percent midday Thursday. Investors shifted into safe-haven Treasury securities amid concerns about a possible U.S. government shutdown and as markets priced in an almost certain quarter-point Federal Reserve rate cut at next week’s policy meeting. The average rate on 15-year fixed mortgages, often used for refinancing, fell to 5.44 percent from 5.52 percent a week earlier.

Mortgage rates do not move in lockstep with the Fed’s short-term policy rate, however. Fixed-rate mortgages are influenced by inflation expectations, economic growth prospects and demand for bonds. That disconnect has produced counterintuitive results before: last fall the Fed...