As mortgage rates surge and remain volatile, it’s becoming increasingly necessary for home buyers to shop around for a loan to find savings. According to Freddie Mac, borrowers potentially could save an average of $1,500 over the life of a loan by gathering one additional rate quote from a lender. And borrowers could save even more by gathering five different quotes from lenders—up to $3,000, Freddie Mac research shows.

Every dollar may help as housing affordability reaches a critical threshold. The typical U.S. household will no longer be able to afford a median-priced home when mortgage rates reach 5.7%, Nadia Evangelou, senior economist and director of forecasting for the National Association of REALTORS®, predicted last week.

Freddie Mac reports the following national averages with mortgage rates for the week ending Sept. 8:

*30-year fixed-rate mortgages: averaged 5.89%, with an average 0.7 point, rising from last week’s 5.66% average. Last year at this time, they averaged 2.88%.

*15-year fixed-rate mortgages: averaged 5.16%, with an average 0.8 point, increasing from last week’s 4.98% average. A year ago, they averaged 2.19%.

Source: Freddie Mac and magazine.realtor/daily-news