US 30-year mortgage rate reaches a four-week high of 6.79 per cent
The average contract rate on a 30-year conforming mortgage in the United States rose to 6.79 per cent from 6.78 per cent, a four-week high, while total applications edged up 0.8 per cent in the week ended 28 August. Purchase applications rose 2 per cent and refinance applications fell 1 per cent. The Mortgage Bankers Association's chief economist tied the move to investors' worries about inflation and deficits lifting yields worldwide.
Economics & Markets··Midday
Applications edge up while refinancing keeps falling
Mortgage applications in the United States rose 0.8 per cent on a seasonally adjusted basis in the week ended 28 August 2026, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association's weekly survey. Purchase applications increased 2 per cent while refinance applications fell 1 per cent and stood 19 per cent below the same week a year earlier. The refinance share of activity slipped to just under 42 per cent of total applications. The weekly survey measures application volume rather than closed loans, so it registers demand at the point of inquiry and not the loans that eventually fund.[1]
A four-week high in the contract rate
The average contract rate on a 30-year conforming mortgage rose to 6.79 per cent from 6.78 per cent a week earlier, a four-week high. Mike Fratantoni, the association's chief economist, said rates had reached their highest levels in four weeks as investors' concerns about inflation and growing deficits pushed yields higher across the globe. In the Treasury market that day the ten-year yield stood at 4.793 per cent and the dollar softened through the session.[1], [2]
The odds on a September increase fall to 64 per cent
Traders cut the implied probability of a Federal Reserve rate increase this month to 64 per cent from 67 per cent after the payroll processor ADP counted 38,000 private jobs in August, the weakest reading since January. The two-year Treasury yield stood at 4.383 per cent. Kitco News names Friday's employment report as the next test of direction and treats the closing levels, the change in implied rate probabilities and the fall in short-dated yields as the observable facts.[2]
