Home buyers may feel even more of a rush to lock in mortgage rates trying to get ahead of any further increases. Over the last month, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage has moved above its sub-3% ultra-low averages to jumping this week to a 3.17% average.

“During the course of the pandemic, ‘home’ has become more important than ever,” says Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist. “As a result, strong purchase demand continues—but buyers also outnumber the sellers. Since January, mortgage rates have increased half a percentage point from historic lows and home prices have risen, leaving potential homebuyers with less purchasing power. Unfortunately, this has disproportionately affected the low end of the market, where supply is the slimmest.”

Freddie Mac reports the following national averages with mortgage rates for the week ending March 25:

*30-year fixed-rate mortgages: averaged 3.17%, with an average 0.6 point, rising from last week’s 3.09% average. A year ago, they averaged 3.50%.

*15-year fixed-rate mortgages: averaged 2.45%, with an average 0.6 point, increasing from last week’s 2.40% average. Last year at this time, they averaged 2.92%.

Source: Freddie Mac and “Instant Reaction: Mortgage Rates, March 25, 2021,” National Association of REALTORS® Economists’ Outlook blog (March 25, 2021)