Mortgage Rates Tick Down to 6.81% as Pending Home Sales Rise

by Julie Taylor

Mortgage rates fell from 6.84% last week to 6.81% for a 30-year fixed home loan for the week ending Nov. 27, according to Freddie Mac.

“The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage moved down this week, but not by much,” said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s Chief Economist in a statement. “Rates have been relatively flat over the last few weeks as the market waits for more clarity on specific economic policies.”

Stubbornly high rates and the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday have most buyers and sellers sitting on the sidelines.

“Homebuyers are facing an uphill battle when it comes to financing their prospective purchases, with mortgage rates continuing to hover just under 7%,” says Realtor.com® senior economic research analyst Joel Berner in his analysis.

With the holiday season in full swing, here’s a breakdown of the latest housing market data and what it means for homebuyers and sellers in the newest installment of our Weekly Housing Market Update.

Lower mortgage rates predicted

Even though rates have been stubbornly high lately, homebuyers have a slight glimmer of hope. Ten-year Treasury yields fell by 12 basis points over the past seven days, offering some relief.

“This downward movement in Treasury yields comes amidst growing certainty over President-Elect Trump’s cabinet and policy plans,” says McLaughlin. This includes details surrounding Trump’s pick for the position of Treasury Secretary and specifics on the breadth and depth of tariffs on overseas goods.

And here’s why it matters: Treasury yields set the tone for borrowing costs across the economy, including mortgage rates.

“This should continue to put downward pressure on mortgage rates through the first week of December,” says Realtor.com senior economist Ralph McLaughlin, potentially giving homebuyers a chance to lock in lower rates.

Buyers jumped at the chance to land a low rate of 6.1% in early October, signaling just how quickly the housing market reacts to a dip in rates.

“Pending home sales ticked up 2% in October as buyers took advantage of low rates early in the month,” says Realtor.com senior economic research analyst Hannah Jones. “Contract signings climbed both monthly and annually in all four regions as buyers took advantage of building home supply.”

The West showed the largest annual increase (16.8%), followed by the Northeast (7.2%), the South (2.5%), and the Midwest (1.8%).

Home prices dip slightly

With mortgage rates still on the higher side, at least home prices are headed south.

The median list price for a home fell 0.6% year over year for the week ending Nov. 23 compared with the same time a year prior. (Listing prices hit a median of $424,950 nationwide in October.)

This marks the 26th week in a row that the median list price was less than or equal to what it was during the same week in 2023.

However, “all of these price decreases, like this week’s, have been small, so the overall change in listing prices has been minimal,” says Berner.

Price per square foot on a national level has steadily grown over this same period, so the price improvements buyers have been seeing are the result of a larger share of smaller homes on the market.

Even so, “more affordable homes are available to buyers willing to sacrifice some size,” says Berner.

New listings increased

Buyers braving the holiday housing market will find newly listed homes, which climbed by 2.8% for the week ending Nov. 23 compared with the prior year. This marks the fourth week with year-over-year new listing growth over 1.5%.

“This is an encouraging sign that even amid a high mortgage rate environment, some sellers are willing to list their homes and make a move,” says Berner.

Overall, listing levels (both fresh and old) grew by 26.5% for the week ending Nov. 23 compared with the same time last year, and the nationwide market is slowly rebounding to pre-pandemic housing stock levels.

“Buyers currently have far more options than they did a few years ago,” says Berner.

Homes are lingering on the market

Homes spent nine extra days on the market for the week ending Nov. 23 compared with the same time last year. (The average home spent 58 days on the market this October.)

For 22 consecutive weeks, homes have spent at least five days longer on the market than last year.

With plenty of housing stock to choose from and few financially attractive prospects, home shoppers are taking their time.

Motivated sellers, who have no control over market mortgage rates, “have only a few levers they can pull to get their home sold faster,” says Berner.

They can lower prices, as evidenced by this week’s 20.3% year-over-year increase in the number of homes with price reductions, or they can provide incentives to buyers by offering mortgage rate buy-downs.

The end of the year does tend to bring more buyer-friendly characteristics like these to the housing market as sellers try to close out a deal before the new year hits.

“Buyers looking to put a new home under the Christmas tree could be pleasantly surprised by having a look at for-sale listings,” says McLaughlin.