Mortgage rate history: 1970s to 2025

5 days ago 7

Andrew Dehan

Fri, January 30, 2026 astatine 10:14 AM CST 6 min read

Looking astatine the past 4 decades, the mean complaint connected a 30-year fixed owe peaked successful 1981, rising just supra 16%.
The mean 30-year fixed complaint bottomed successful 2021 astatine conscionable nether 3%.
For 2025, the mean 30-year fixed-rate owe complaint was 6.66%. As of Jan. 28, 2026, the 30-year fixed complaint was 6.18%.

The residential mortgage arsenic we cognize it contiguous is little than a period old. In fact, until the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) was established successful 1934, lone 1 successful 10 Americans adjacent owned a home. That each changed with the instauration of the 30-year fixed-rate owe during the Great Depression, which made homeownership imaginable for millions.

Average 30-year fixed owe complaint by yearHere is simply a timeline of the mean 30-year fixed owe complaint by year. Bankrate archetypal began aggregating complaint information successful 1982; each information anterior was sourced from Freddie Mac. The 2026 mean is done Jan. 28.

Year

30-year fixed-rate average

2026	6.21%
2025	6.66%
2024	6.90%
2023	7.00%
2022	5.53%
2021	3.15%
2020	3.38%
2019	4.13%
2018	4.70%
2017	4.14%
2016	3.79%
2015	3.99%
2014	4.31%
2013	4.16%
2012	3.88%
2011	4.65%
2010	4.86%
2009	5.38%
2008	6.23%
2007	6.40%
2006	6.47%
2005	5.93%
2004	5.88%
2003	5.89%
2002	6.57%
2001	7.01%
2000	8.08%
1999	7.46%
1998	6.91%
1997	7.57%
1996	7.76%
1995	7.86%
1994	8.28%
1993	7.17%
1992	8.27%
1991	9.09%
1990	9.97%
1989	10.25%
1988	10.38%
1987	10.40%
1986	10.39%
1985	12.43%
1984	13.88%
1983	13.24%
1982	16.06%
1981	16.64%*
1980	13.74%*
1979	11.20%*
1978	9.64%*
1977	8.85%*
1976	8.87%*
1975	9.05%*
1974	9.19%*
1973	8.04%*
1972	7.38%*

For December and January, Bankrate’s mean owe rates person been adjacent the lowest levels since 2022. As of Jan. 28, the 30-year owe complaint averaged 6.18%, according to Bankrate’s lender survey.

Learn more: Mortgage complaint variability index

Entering 2020, the 30-year fixed-rate owe was already beneath 4%. Then the COVID-19 pandemic brought it to a grounds low, conscionable nether 3%.

By 2022, the Federal Reserve began raising its benchmark involvement complaint to chill pandemic-spurred inflation, and owe rates followed suit. Fast-forward to October 2023, and the 30-year owe complaint broke done 8% — an mean not seen since 2000.

For astir of 2024, owe rates lingered successful the 6s and 7s. The Fed pivoted backmost to complaint cuts successful September, October and December of that year. Despite the Fed’s cuts, owe rates roseate from September 2024 into 2025.

In September, October and December of 2025, the Federal Reserve chopped rates by 25 ground points each to full 75 ground points. Rates for the twelvemonth drifted downward from 6.8%-7% to extremity the twelvemonth astatine 6.25%.