Mortgage Rates Fall for a Second Week;
VA Loans Lead With Week’s Steepest Drop at −0.146 pts
Week Ending April 13, 2026

Government-backed loans led this week’s broad decline, a shift from last week when ARMs dominated. The VA loan dropped 0.146 points to 5.894% while ARMs held essentially flat after last week’s dramatic repricing.

📊 Full week-over-week data for all 9 loan products — drawn from 3,003 verified rate quotes across 1,531 institution-product combinations.

NATIONAL — National mortgage rates declined for a second consecutive week for the period ending April 13, 2026, with 7 of 9 tracked products posting losses and the ARM segment holding essentially flat after last week’s dramatic repricing. The benchmark 30-year fixed rate fell to 6.176% — a drop of 0.076 percentage points from last week’s 6.252% — and has now shed 0.216 points in two weeks from the 6.392% recorded the week of March 29. The week’s headline move came from government-backed products, led by VA loans posting the steepest single-product drop at −0.146 points to 5.894%.

Fixed-rate conventional products continued their retreat. The 30-year fixed fell 0.076 points to 6.176%, and the 15-year fixed declined 0.079 points to 5.766% — both products have now declined in back-to-back weeks. The spread between the two flagship products held nearly steady at 0.410 percentage points. For refinance and purchase borrowers focused on conventional loans, the two-week cumulative decline of 0.216 points on the 30-year fixed represents a meaningful shift in affordability from where rates stood at the end of March.

The ARM segment was the week’s notable stabilizer. The 3/1 conventional ARM held exactly flat at 5.695%, and the 5/1 ARM edged up just 0.001 points to 5.779% — for practical purposes, unchanged. The 7/1 ARM dipped 0.005 points to 5.890%. This is a striking reversal from last week, when the 5/1 ARM posted a −0.370 drop and the 3/1 fell −0.344. The ARM-to-fixed spread on the 5/1 versus the 30-year fixed sits at −0.397 percentage points — still a meaningful incentive for borrowers comfortable with rate adjustment risk and shorter hold periods.

Jumbo products continued their more measured retreat. The 30-year jumbo fell 0.058 points to 6.304%, keeping the jumbo-to-conforming spread narrow at 0.128 percentage points — well below historical norms and a sign that lender appetite for portfolio loans remains firm. The 15-year jumbo declined 0.049 points to 5.854%, now sitting just 0.088 points above the 15-year fixed at 5.766%.

Government-backed products drove the week’s biggest moves. The VA loan posted the largest decline of any product at −0.146 points, falling to 5.894% — its lowest level in recent weeks. FHA dropped 0.083 points to 5.861%, now sitting just 0.033 points below the VA rate. Both products are now pricing below the 30-year jumbo (6.304%) and close to the conventional 15-year fixed (5.766%), narrowing the advantage of conventional financing for eligible borrowers. The magnitude of VA’s move — nearly double that of FHA — likely reflects the sharper repricing dynamics in Ginnie Mae MBS markets relative to conventional agency securities.

The second consecutive week of broad declines across conventional mortgage products reflects continued repricing in U.S. Treasury markets following the tariff-driven volatility that began in early April 2026. As Treasury yields fell amid a flight to safety, conventional mortgage rates — which are closely tied to 10-year Treasury yields — followed. The two-week cumulative drop of 0.216 points on the 30-year fixed is a meaningful move by any measure, though rates remain historically elevated relative to the low-rate environment of 2020–2021.

The VA loan’s outsized −0.146 point drop warrants attention. VA and FHA loans are securitized through Ginnie Mae mortgage-backed securities, which trade separately from the conventional Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac MBS market. Ginnie Mae spreads can move more sharply in both directions during periods of volatility, producing larger rate swings for government-backed products than for conventional loans — as seen this week. The ARM market’s near-complete pause, by contrast, suggests that last week’s dramatic ARM repricing largely absorbed the available movement, and short-term funding rate expectations have since stabilized.

With the 30-year fixed now at 6.176% and the spring homebuying season underway, purchase and refinance borrowers are seeing two consecutive weeks of improvement. The 5/1 ARM at 5.779% continues to offer a nearly 0.400-point advantage over the 30-year fixed for borrowers who can accept rate adjustment risk, and VA-eligible borrowers now have access to the 5.894% national average — a rate that has fallen nearly 0.300 points in a matter of weeks. Compare the best mortgage rates from lenders nationwide →