Mortgage rates fell this week for the first time since late August, easing some of the pressure on prospective homebuyers facing higher borrowing costs on home loans.
The benchmark 30-year fixed-rate mortgage dropped to 7.32% from 7.40% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. One year ago, the average rate was 6.19%.
Borrowing costs on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, often sought by borrowers refinancing a home loan, also eased this week. That average rate slipped to 6.68% from 6.71% last week. A year ago, it was at 5.44%.
Rates on home loans are influenced by inflation, Federal Reserve policy and bond-market investors’ expectations for the economy, among other factors. They generally follow the trajectory of the 10-year Treasury yield, which lenders use as a guide to pricing home loans.
Mortgage rates have been climbing since late February, when the U.S. war with Iran began, pushing up the price of oil and driving inflation higher. The run-up in rates also reflects heightened bond market volatility, which has pushed up yields on U.S. Treasurys.
The 10-year Treasury yield has been mostly easing the last couple of weeks after climbing to its highest level since 2002. That's caused the average rate on a 30-year mortgage to hold steady after reaching 7.4%, its highest level in nearly three years.
The yield was at 5% at midday on the bond market Thursday. It surged to more than 5.30% earlier this month and remains well above its 3.97% level from before the war with Iran.
U.S. home sales remain stalled this year in large part because of rising mortgage rates, which can add hundreds of dollars a month in costs for borrowers, limiting homebuyers’ purchasing power and prompting many to put off buying a home.
In late February, the average rate on a 30-year mortgage briefly dipped to 5.98%, its lowest level going back to late 2022. The rise in rates since then has added roughly $355 to the monthly cost for a borrower financing a $400,000 home loan, going by the latest average rate.
Depending on a borrower’s income, credit and other factors, they may qualify for a rate on a 30-year mortgage that is below or above the current average.
The U.S. housing market has been in a slump since 2022, when mortgage rates began to climb from pandemic-era lows. Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes were essentially flat last year, stuck at a 30-year low.
In its latest forecast, mortgage buyer Fannie Mae projects that the rate on a 30-year mortgage will average 7.4% in the final quarter of this year, and average 7.5% in 2027.
A sign stands in front of a new home construction site in Deerfield, Ill., Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
MILWAUKEE (AP) — The Miz will try to whiz his famous fastball by batters on baseball's biggest stage, opening a new-look World Series between teams guaranteed to produce a first-time champion.
Jacob Misiorowski brings his record-setting heat to the mound for the Milwaukee Brewers on Friday night when he throws the first pitch of the best-of-seven championship against the Tampa Bay Rays, a matchup of modest-money marvels who bumped off glamorous rivals with a throwback base-to-base style.
“Forrest Gump, everyone,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said Thursday, introducing his ace to the assembled media.
“I'm still fresh to this and have no idea what the hell is going on,” Misiorowski said a few minutes later.
Few predicted this pairing of pennant winners when the season opened March 25. The first World Series with robot umpires is the first since 1980 between teams seeking their first championship and also could be the first with a 104 mph pitch — thanks to Misiorowski — and the first to be played totally indoors.
"I’m excited to see two great teams that play the game a little differently than maybe it’s been played the last decade or so,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said.
Milwaukee is in the Series for the second time after a 44-year absence — an appropriate number given that it was the jersey of the Cream City's most famous baseball player, Hank Aaron, who became a star with the Milwaukee Braves in the 1950s and ended his career with the expansion Brewers in the 1970s.
Both teams fell short in previous Series trips, the Brewers losing to St. Louis in 1982 and the Rays to Philadelphia in 2008 and to the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2020. Not since the Phillies beat Kansas City in 1980 have two teams met seeking their first title. The time before that was in 1920.
Misiorowski, a 24-year-old right-hander in his first full major league season, is a starting pitcher like no other. He threw 1,115 pitches of 100 mph or higher this year — shattering the old high of 673 since tracking began in 2008, by Jordan Hicks in 2018.
His fastest pitch was 105.5 mph to the Chicago Cubs' Pete Crow-Armstrong on June 27, and he appears likely to break the 101.1 mph record for a Series starter by the New York Mets' Noah Syndergaard in 2015 and possibly the overall Series high of 103.2 mph by Cubs reliever Aroldis Chapman to Cleveland's Coco Crisp in Game 2 of 2016.
Misiorowski didn't finish the fifth inning in either of his first two postseason starts this year. Batters have swung at 94 of his 182 postseason pitches and fouled off 51 — 28% of pitches and 54% of swings.
“He hasn’t been as crisp,” Murphy said. “They’re obviously looking at an area. They’re trying to exploit everything. He’s exposed, like all these guys get at some point.”
In an age where power bats usually rule, Milwaukee scored a major league-low 32.1% of its runs on homers and Tampa Bay was second-lowest at 34.4%, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
“It's cool that you don't have to be that team to hit 170 home runs a game or whatever,” Misiorowski said. “You can win a baseball game so many different ways.”
Rays batters had the fewest strikeouts among the 30 teams and Tampa Bay’s 45 sacrifice bunts were the most among American League teams since 2015.
“I was a little discouraged for the last 10 or 15 years in the way the game had gone as far as relying on the home run, not worrying about strikeouts,” said Hall of Famer Robin Yount, a star of the '82 Brewers. “The game today looks like they’re starting to really focus on playing baseball again.”
This marks the first time since 1991 that both Series teams are in the bottom half of payrolls: the Brewers were 19th as of Aug. 31 and the Rays 25th. Milwaukee, MLB's smallest market, could become the first small-market champion since Kansas City in 2015. The Rays rank 15th in market size.
To reach the Series, the Brewers swept the deep-pocketed, two-time champion Dodgers in the NL Championship Series and the Rays swept the New York Yankees in an AL Division Series.
The highest-paid player in the Series, Brewers outfielder Christian Yelich, was 44th overall in the majors on opening day. Yandy Díaz, who earns most among the Rays, ranked 154th.
Batters have succeeded on 63% of challenges during the postseason in the first year of the Automated Ball-Strike System, winning 40 of 63 appeals to the robot umps. That is up from 49% during the regular season.
Catchers' 58% success rate in the playoffs (58 of 99) is down a tick from 59% during the regular season and pitchers are 1 for 1 — Tampa Bay’s Griffin Jax made the only challenge. The 60% overall rate is up from 54% in the regular season.
Tampa Bay's batters have yet to make a postseason challenge. Milwaukee's have won 4 of 7, including a perfect 2 for 2 by Jake Bauers.
Brewers catcher William Contreras has won 60% (12 of 20) and Rays catcher Liam Hicks 67% (8 of 12).
Milwaukee will have had seven days off going into the opener.
While teams with less rest are 15-15 in the Series since Wild Card Era started in 1995, they are 12-4 since 2009.
Milwaukee and Tampa Bay tied for the best home record this year at 55-26.
Forced from Tropicana Field for 2025 after damage from Hurricane Milton, the Rays played across the bay at the Yankees’ spring training stadium in St. Petersburg, Florida, and then returned to the refurbished Trop for 2026.
See AP’s full MLB coverage here
Tampa Bay Rays' Yandy Díaz celebrates his two-run home run against the Cleveland Guardians during the eighth inning in Game 6 of an American League Championship Series baseball game in St. Petersburg, Fla. Monday, Oct. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
Milwaukee Brewers catcher William Contreras celebrates the final out of Game 4 of baseball's National League Championship Series between the Milwaukee Brewers and the Los Angeles Dodgers, Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
Tampa Bay Rays' Junior Caminero celebrates a two-run home run against the Cleveland Guardians during the seventh inning in Game 6 of an American League Championship Series baseball game in St. Petersburg, Fla. Monday, Oct. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
