Compare Today’s Mortgage Interest Rates – NerdWallet

Our Nerdy take on mortgage rates

Jan. 22, 2026: Average rates on 30-year mortgages rose this week, but are still close to 6%. Mortgage rates are unlikely to be influenced by the Federal Reserve, which is widely forecast to keep short-term borrowing rates stable at its meeting next week. The bond market’s a more probable source of momentum. Mortgage rates’ biggest jump last week tracked the bond market’s reaction to threatened tariffs. We could see additional volatility as markets digest the news coming out of Davos.

Watch: What December’s Fed Cut Means for Mortgage Rates

What Moves Mortgage Rates? Factors at Play & How to Shop

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Last updated 01/22/2026

Mortgage rates change all the time, as lenders adjust their offers up or down depending on what’s happening on a grand scale. Shifts in the economy, changes in markets, and big events like national elections are reflected in rates’ movements.

Mortgage lenders take that big stuff into account in order to set base rates that are competitive while giving them some profit. They then adjust that base rate up or down for individual borrowers depending on perceived risk.

Say you have a solid credit score with a record of on-time payments and a manageable amount of debt. You’d likely seem like a safe bet to a lender and be offered a lower interest rate than a borrower who had some negative remarks on their credit report and larger debts.

Factors you can change

Your credit score

Mortgage lenders use credit score as a stand-in for risk. Higher credit scores are seen as safer, and are generally rewarded with lower interest rate offers.

Your down payment

Paying a larger percentage of the home’s price upfront reduces the amount you’re borrowing. A bigger down payment may help you score a lower interest rate.

Your loan type

What kind of mortgage you’re applying for influences the rate you’re offered. For example, jumbo loans tend to have higher interest rates.

How you’ll use the home

A mortgage for a primary residence will usually have a lower interest rate than a home loan for a second home or an investment property.

Forces you can’t control

The U.S. economy

Stock market trends, the rate of inflation and the job market can all put pressure on mortgage interest rates. Events like elections can influence rates, too.

The global economy

What’s happening around the world affects U.S. markets, which can then push mortgage rates higher or lower.

The Federal Reserve

Decisions by the nation’s central bank to raise or cut interest rates for short-term borrowing can ripple out to rates on longer-term loans, including mortgages.

The housing market

A hot housing market can make it harder to find lower mortgage rates. When lenders have plenty of business, there’s less incentive to compete for buyers.

How to compare current mortgage rates

Here’s a breakdown of what you’re looking at when you view mortgage interest rate offers.

Interest rate: The interest rate listed is the mortgage rate that the lender is offering. If you haven’t entered any information to personalize the rate (like your approximate credit score, location, or down payment savings), you’re seeing a sample rate that’s calculated based on generic borrower characteristics that may not apply to you.

Est. mo. payment: The estimated monthly payment is how much this loan would cost, per month, in principal and interest.

How to see personalized mortgage rates

Mortgage rates like the ones you see on this page are sample rates. In this case, they’re the averages of rates from multiple lenders, which are provided to NerdWallet by Zillow. That lets you know where mortgage rates stand today, but it doesn’t show you the exact rate you’d be offered.

The same goes for rates you see advertised by individual lenders. Lenders use a set of sample borrower characteristics — like credit score, location and down payment amount — to generate the rates they show on their websites.

To see more personalized rates, you’ll need to provide some information about you and about the home you’re hoping to buy:

Does a lower mortgage rate matter? Savings example

Fractions of a percentage might not seem like they’d make a big difference, but you aren’t just shaving a few bucks off your monthly mortgage payment. You’re also lowering the total amount of interest you’ll pay over the life of the loan. The longer you own the home, the more that savings will add up.

Here’s an example: Say one lender is offering you a 7% fixed interest rate on a 30-year mortgage for $360,000, while another is offering 6.75% for the same loan.

With a 7% interest rate, the monthly principal and interest payment would be almost $2,400. With a 6.75% interest rate, the monthly principal and interest payment would be about $2,340.

That’s a difference of about $60 a month, which might not seem like a ton. But after five years, you’d save more than $4,500 in interest at the lower rate. And over the life of the loan, you’d pay almost $22,000 less interest.

And this example uses a difference of just a quarter of a percentage point. If you’ve got a range of offers from a few lenders, you may find there’s a substantial difference between the highest and lowest quote.

How to compare mortgage lenders

If you’d prefer to be more hands on, that’s fine, too. You can make an informed choice by asking brokers about their fees and services and weighing those costs and benefits against researching lenders on your own.