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Brian McKay

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Brian is the Co-Founder of MonitorBankRates.com. For over 18 years, he has utilized his background in enterprise infrastructure to engineer proprietary systems that track rates from over 8,000 financial institutions.

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| August 24, 2026 | 6 min read

Mortgage Rates Ease Off Their Summer Highs

Mortgage rates took a week off. Eight of the nine loan types we track eased slightly, with 30-year mortgage rates slipping to 6.485% from last week's summer high. The moves are small enough that a typical monthly payment barely changes, but two quieter shifts continued: jumbo rates keep closing in on conventional rates, and VA rates dropped below FHA.

After a month of climbing, average mortgage rates finally eased this week. 30-year mortgage rates slipped 0.006 points to 6.485%, 15-year fixed rates edged down to 6.004%, and every adjustable-rate average declined. Only FHA rates rose, and by so little, 0.005 points, that flat is the fairer word. Nobody should call one week a turn; rates sit just under the summer highs they set last week. But after three straight reports of increases, a week where nothing got more expensive is news of a kind.

The climb takes a week off

Conventional mortgage rates, national average APR since late March

Average APRs from MonitorBankRates.com's nightly collection, updated daily. The figures in the text and table below are average note rates, which run below APR.

The two fixed-rate benchmarks barely moved. 30-year mortgage rates gave back 0.006 points of last week's 0.083-point jump, and 15-year fixed mortgage rates eased 0.005 points while staying above the 6.00% line they crossed in mid-August. The distance between the two terms held at 0.481 points, so the shape of the choice hasn't changed, only the level, and this week barely touched the level.

Adjustable-rate loans did most of the week's falling. 5/1 ARM rates eased 0.013 points to 5.930% and are once again the lowest average we track, 0.555 points under 30-year fixed rates. 7/1 ARM rates fell 0.036 points to 6.027%, and 3/1 ARM rates dropped 0.051 points to 5.926%, undoing the odd moment last week when that thinly quoted loan briefly priced above the 5/1; the two now sit four thousandths apart, effectively tied.

The extra you pay for a jumbo loan keeps shrinking

For a second straight week, jumbo mortgage rates fell while the rest of the market held or eased. 30-year jumbo mortgage rates slipped 0.018 points to 6.561% and 15-year jumbo rates fell 0.042 points to 6.058%. In late July, average 30-year jumbo rates ran 0.197 points above conventional 30-year rates; last week the difference was 0.088, and it's now 0.076. On 15-year terms it's down to 0.054. Jumbo averages come from the smallest lender pools we track, so we keep saying the exact figures deserve caution, but three reports of one-directional movement is a trend: borrowing above the conforming limit hasn't carried a premium this thin at any point in our summer reports.

Jumbo and FHA rates, national average APR since late March

Average APRs from the nightly collection. VA loans are omitted from this chart pending a data-quality fix in the nightly series; the VA table figures below are verified.

The week's other switch happened in government-backed lending. VA mortgage rates fell 0.027 points to 6.199% while FHA mortgage rates ticked up 0.005 points to 6.227%, so VA loans now carry the lower average of the two after last week's near-tie. Both programs sit within a tenth of the 15-year fixed average, and as always, the rate an individual borrower gets depends on the lender and the loan file; a buyer comparing Virginia mortgage rates can see how local lenders sit against these national averages.

Weekly change by loan type (percentage points)

Average note rates, August 17 to August 24. Green bars fell; red bars rose.

Mortgage rates this week: August 17 vs. August 24

The bond market is marking time until September 15

There was no rate decision to react to this week and no major shift in the bond market that drives mortgage pricing; the 10-year Treasury yield, which mortgage rates follow, finished August 14 at 4.68%, and mortgage averages have barely moved since. The Federal Reserve last met on July 29, holding its benchmark at 3.50% to 3.75% with three members voting for an increase, and its next meeting comes September 15 and 16. Weeks like this one are what waiting looks like: lenders fine-tuning while the bond market holds its position until the Fed shows its hand. A meaningful move in either direction before mid-September would take an inflation surprise, not a quiet August.

For buyers, a week that changes almost nothing

This week's dip moves a typical payment by pocket change; on a $400,000 30-year loan, the difference is under $2 a month. What matters more is where rates sit: near their highest levels of the summer, which is why our guide on how mortgage rates affect the home buying process is worth a read before you set a budget, and the mortgage affordability calculator turns today's averages into a price range you can actually shop. The relative bargains are unchanged: 5/1 ARM rates at 5.930% are more than half a point under 30-year fixed rates for buyers who can live with an adjustment after year five, and borrowers above the conforming limit are getting the smallest jumbo markup of the summer. Week-to-week movement for every loan type is on our mortgage rate history page.

The line under the mortgage payment

Every lender quoting the rates on this page will also require the home to be insured, and that line of the budget has been growing faster than most buyers expect. Where you buy matters enormously: our new MBR Home Insurance Burden Index ranks all 50 states by how heavily homeowners insurance costs weigh on homeowners, and the state guides beneath it, like our Virginia homeowners insurance page, cover what drives premiums locally. Before you commit to a payment built on this week's rates, it's worth pricing the insurance beside it.

The bottom line

One flat week doesn't end a climb, and mortgage rates remain within a few thousandths of their summer highs. What this week did do is extend the quieter stories: the jumbo markup kept shrinking, VA loans got a little less expensive relative to FHA, and adjustable rates pulled further below fixed ones. Behind our 6.485% average, lenders in our data are quoting 30-year loans from just under 5% to nearly 9%, and that spread, not the week's 0.006-point drift, is where a borrower's money is made or lost.