Mortgage rates were a mixed bag this week, with the 30-year fixed rate inching up to 6.62 percent, but the rates on 15-year loans stable, according to Bankrate’s latest lender survey. Rates are still much lower than they were earlier this summer, and forecasters expect that trend to continue as the Federal Reserve gears up for rate cuts in September.

Current mortgage rates

The 30-year fixed mortgages in this week’s survey had an average total of 0.29 discount and origination points. Discount points are a way for you to reduce your mortgage rate, while origination points are fees a lender charges to create, review and process your loan.

Experts tell us: Will mortgage rates go down this upcoming week?

Monthly mortgage payment at today’s rates

The national median family income for 2024 is $97,800, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the median price of an existing home sold in June 2024 was $426,900, a record, according to the National Association of Realtors. Based on a 20 percent down payment and a 6.62 percent mortgage rate, the monthly payment of $2,186 amounts to 27 percent of the typical family’s monthly income.

Will mortgage rates go down?

In the simplest sense, the economy drives whether mortgage rates go up or down. As witnessed in the stock market sell-off earlier this month, rates can fall in times of volatility, as well as during recessions. With Federal Reserve cuts all but certain in September — and likely beyond that — mortgage watchers expect rates to stay on a downtrend for now.

“Ten-year bond yields now hover near their 2024 lows thanks in part to the revision on new jobs,” says Melissa Cohn, regional vice president at William Raveis Mortgage. “The government reported that 818,000 fewer jobs were created in the fiscal year ending March 2024. That is a sizable adjustment and combined with other reports helps to further the case for a rate cut in September.”

Fixed mortgage rates are not set directly by the Fed, but by investor appetite, particularly for 10-year Treasury bonds. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rate is often directly tied to the yield on a 10-year Treasury bond. When there’s uncertainty in the market, investors buy Treasury bonds, which in turn drives yields (and mortgage rates) downward. This can lead to day-to-day rate swings as news comes in.

Learn more: How are mortgage rates set?

• Methodology

  The Bankrate.com national survey of large lenders is conducted weekly. To conduct the National Average survey, Bankrate obtains rate information from the 10 largest banks and thrifts in 10 large U.S. markets. In the Bankrate.com national survey, our Market Analysis team gathers rates and/or yields on banking deposits, loans and mortgages. We’ve conducted this survey in the same manner for more than 30 years, and because it’s consistently done the way it is, it gives an accurate national apples-to-apples comparison. Our rates differ from other national surveys, in particular Freddie Mac’s weekly published rates. Each week Freddie Mac surveys lenders on the rates and points based on first-lien prime conventional conforming home purchase mortgages with a loan-to-value of 80 percent. “Lenders surveyed each week are a mix of lender types — thrifts, credit unions, commercial banks and mortgage lending companies — is roughly proportional to the level of mortgage business that each type commands nationwide,” according to Freddie Mac.