Mortgage rates are the interest you pay to borrow money for *** home. Higher rates mean higher monthly payments because of accrued interest, which costs you more over the life of *** loan. The Federal Reserve set short-term interest rates, which influence how much you owe for things like credit cards and car loans. But according to experts, mortgage rates do not follow the Fed. Instead they follow the 10-year Treasury, which has to do with US government bonds. Right now, the bond market is nervous about inflation. So even with the Fed’s recent Rate cut in December, mortgage rates didn’t budge. Our get the Facts data team dug into the numbers to show us how mortgages have changed over the last decade. Rates remain high, hovering an average of 6% this year, the lowest rates have been in the last decade and came during the COVID pandemic when they bottomed out at 2.65% in January of 2021. But mortgage rates have hovered around 3 to 4% until the start of 2022 when they surpassed 5% and haven’t dropped. Below 6% since September 2022, and these high rates can be painful when buying *** home. Our get the facts data team found the most expensive mortgages were in places like Santa Clara, San Mateo, and Marin Counties, all in California. But Nantucket County in Massachusetts tops the list, with mortgages averaging nearly $10,000 in 2025. The least expensive are mostly in the South or Midwest, like Todd County, South Dakota or Stewart County, Georgia. Where an average mortgage is over $300. If you’re trying to buy *** home, experts tell our data team there are 3 barriers right now, those high mortgage rates, high home prices, and buyers just not wanting to buy *** house right now due to other levels of uncertainty. If you’re curious with how your monthly mortgage rate has changed, our get the Facts data team created *** tool on our website. You just plug in your county, and it calculates how much more or less you’re paying compared to 10 years ago. Reporting in Washington, I’m Amy Lou.
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Despite Fed rate cuts, mortgage rates could still rise. Here’s why
The Federal Reserve cut interest rates by 25 basis points at its final meeting of 2025, but the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage remained high at 6.22%.
Updated: 8:28 AM EST Dec 31, 2025
The Federal Reserve cut interest rates by 25 basis points at its final meeting of 2025, but an expert says it may not translate into lower mortgage rates. Susan Wachter, a professor of real estate at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, said mortgage rates take their metric cue from the 10-year Treasury.”The two rates are disconnected. The only time the two rates move together is if we’re moving towards a recession,” Wachter said. Mortgage rates are the interest you pay to borrow money to buy a home. Higher mortgage rates raise monthly payments because more interest accrues on the principal mortgage each month.The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.22% as of Dec. 11, 2025. That is below the year-to-date average of 6.62%, but Wachter said rates remain high.”Just a matter of four years ago, mortgage rates were 3 or 4%, so this has a big impact on the overall economy, and we cannot, unfortunately, rely on the Federal Reserve’s action to solve this affordability problem,” Wachter said. National Association of Realtors data, analyzed by the Get the Facts Data Team, shows that monthly principal and interest mortgage payments in the United States have nearly doubled in the last 10 years.See how much your monthly mortgage has changed with our calculator.On average, the monthly cost of owning a home in counties across the United States was $1,424 in 2025, compared with $712 in 2015. That number doesn’t include costs like property taxes, homeowner’s insurance, homeowners association fees and other fees. Nantucket County in Massachusetts saw the monthly cost of owning a home more than double, reaching $9,797 in 2025 compared to $4,691 in 2015. The island, located about 30 miles south of Cape Cod, has a median home listing price of $5.2 million, according to Realtor.com.In California, mortgage rates rose by an average of 89% over the last 10 years. The highest mortgage rates in the state are found in Marin, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties.What is driving up mortgage costs?According to Wachter, homebuyers face three barriers: high mortgage rates, high housing prices and a buyer strike.High mortgage rates stem in part from large U.S. budget deficits caused by government borrowing during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, housing prices have risen and many buyers have pulled back. “Buyers are uncertain about their future job prospects, overall economy prospects — even stock market prospects. That uncertainty is keeping buyers on the sidelines, which is why housing prices, even though they’re near all-time highs, are not increasing anymore,” said Wachter.Aside from increasing mortgage costs, the housing market is also seeing a surge in delistings.”The homeowners who are selling are disappointed because their prices are falling, so they’re taking their homes off the inventory. We see that happening more than ever recently,” Wachter said.A recent report from Realtor.com shows that about 6% of listings have been removed from the market by sellers each month since June. That is the highest national delisting rate reported by Realtor.com since it began tracking this metric in 2022. PHNjcmlwdCB0eXBlPSJ0ZXh0L2phdmFzY3JpcHQiPiFmdW5jdGlvbigpeyJ1c2Ugc3RyaWN0Ijt3aW5kb3cuYWRkRXZlbnRMaXN0ZW5lcigibWVzc2FnZSIsKGZ1bmN0aW9uKGUpe2lmKHZvaWQgMCE9PWUuZGF0YVsiZGF0YXdyYXBwZXItaGVpZ2h0Il0pe3ZhciB0PWRvY3VtZW50LnF1ZXJ5U2VsZWN0b3JBbGwoImlmcmFtZSIpO2Zvcih2YXIgYSBpbiBlLmRhdGFbImRhdGF3cmFwcGVyLWhlaWdodCJdKWZvcih2YXIgcj0wO3I8dC5sZW5ndGg7cisrKXtpZih0W3JdLmNvbnRlbnRXaW5kb3c9PT1lLnNvdXJjZSl0W3JdLnN0eWxlLmhlaWdodD1lLmRhdGFbImRhdGF3cmFwcGVyLWhlaWdodCJdW2FdKyJweCJ9fX0pKX0oKTs8L3NjcmlwdD4K
The Federal Reserve cut interest rates by 25 basis points at its final meeting of 2025, but an expert says it may not translate into lower mortgage rates.
Susan Wachter, a professor of real estate at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, said mortgage rates take their metric cue from the 10-year Treasury.
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“The two rates are disconnected. The only time the two rates move together is if we’re moving towards a recession,” Wachter said.
Mortgage rates are the interest you pay to borrow money to buy a home. Higher mortgage rates raise monthly payments because more interest accrues on the principal mortgage each month.
The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.22% as of Dec. 11, 2025. That is below the year-to-date average of 6.62%, but Wachter said rates remain high.
“Just a matter of four years ago, mortgage rates were 3 or 4%, so this has a big impact on the overall economy, and we cannot, unfortunately, rely on the Federal Reserve’s action to solve this affordability problem,” Wachter said.
National Association of Realtors data, analyzed by the Get the Facts Data Team, shows that monthly principal and interest mortgage payments in the United States have nearly doubled in the last 10 years.
See how much your monthly mortgage has changed with our calculator.
On average, the monthly cost of owning a home in counties across the United States was $1,424 in 2025, compared with $712 in 2015. That number doesn’t include costs like property taxes, homeowner’s insurance, homeowners association fees and other fees.
Nantucket County in Massachusetts saw the monthly cost of owning a home more than double, reaching $9,797 in 2025 compared to $4,691 in 2015. The island, located about 30 miles south of Cape Cod, has a median home listing price of $5.2 million, according to Realtor.com.
In California, mortgage rates rose by an average of 89% over the last 10 years. The highest mortgage rates in the state are found in Marin, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties.
What is driving up mortgage costs?
According to Wachter, homebuyers face three barriers: high mortgage rates, high housing prices and a buyer strike.
High mortgage rates stem in part from large U.S. budget deficits caused by government borrowing during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, housing prices have risen and many buyers have pulled back.
“Buyers are uncertain about their future job prospects, overall economy prospects — even stock market prospects. That uncertainty is keeping buyers on the sidelines, which is why housing prices, even though they’re near all-time highs, are not increasing anymore,” said Wachter.
Aside from increasing mortgage costs, the housing market is also seeing a surge in delistings.
“The homeowners who are selling are disappointed because their prices are falling, so they’re taking their homes off the inventory. We see that happening more than ever recently,” Wachter said.
A recent report from Realtor.com shows that about 6% of listings have been removed from the market by sellers each month since June. That is the highest national delisting rate reported by Realtor.com since it began tracking this metric in 2022.