Mortgage rates rise to 7.28% as Fed rate hike looms

Mortgage rates have continued to rise in September due to geopolitical turmoil, bond market volatility and other macroeconomic factors. At HousingWire‘s Mortgage Rates Center on Tuesday, rates for 30-year conforming loans averaged 7.28% — up 22 basis points in the past two weeks. Rates for 30-year jumbo loans rose 21 bps during that time frame to average 7.47%, while 30-year loans through the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) jumped 18 bps to average 6.86%. HousingWire’s data analyzes locked loan rates across all borrower credit profiles. The current rate environment stands in stark contrast to conditions at the start of 2026, when rates were roughly a full percentage point lower and Federal Reserve projections pointed toward further cuts to benchmark rates. But with the Fed continuing to fight inflation that’s running considerably higher than its 2% annual target and employment remaining in a healthy position, a rate hike on Wednesday week appears all but certain. “It’s terribly disappointing. And we started this year thinking that mortgage rates were settling down,” Melissa Cohn, regional vice president at William Raveis Mortgage, told HousingWire in an interview. “The economy...