Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey put the average 30-year fixed rate at 7.32% in its October 22, 2026 release, down from 7.40% a week earlier and up from 6.19% a year before. The 15-year fixed averaged 6.68%. That was the latest published reading when this was checked on October 29, 2026, ahead of Freddie Mac's next release at noon Eastern time that Thursday. Read the figure as a weekly average for one kind of borrower, not a rate you can lock: a home buyer with a credit score of 740 or higher, a loan-to-value ratio between 75% and 80%, and a conventional loan within the conforming limit.
Eight weeks of readings, and the days each one covers
Freddie Mac describes each release as an average of loan rates offered the prior Thursday through Wednesday, drawn from applications submitted that week; holiday weeks run shorter, as the schedule section below shows. The table pairs each release with its window, as listed in Freddie Mac's 2026 publication calendar, and with the 30-year reading from the same week of 2025, the pairing Freddie Mac's October 22 release uses for its year-ago figure.
| Release | 30-year fixed | 15-year fixed | Applications counted | 30-year, same week of 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 22, 2026 | 7.32% | 6.68% | Oct 15–21 | 6.19% (Oct 23) |
| Oct 15, 2026 | 7.40% | 6.71% | Oct 8–14 | 6.27% (Oct 16) |
| Oct 8, 2026 | 7.40% | 6.73% | Oct 1–7 | 6.30% (Oct 9) |
| Oct 1, 2026 | 7.28% | 6.60% | Sept 24–30 | 6.34% (Oct 2) |
| Sept 24, 2026 | 7.03% | 6.42% | Sept 17–23 | 6.30% (Sept 25) |
| Sept 17, 2026 | 6.95% | 6.26% | Sept 10–16 | 6.26% (Sept 18) |
| Sept 10, 2026 | 6.76% | 6.09% | Sept 3–9 | 6.35% (Sept 11) |
| Sept 3, 2026 | 6.71% | 6.04% | Aug 27–Sept 2 | 6.50% (Sept 4) |
The climb was quick. The 30-year average rose 0.69 percentage points in five weeks, from 6.71% on September 3 to 7.40% on October 8, and the September 24 reading of 7.03% was the first above 7% since January 16, 2025, when it printed 7.04%. Between September 3 and October 22, the gap with a year earlier widened from 0.21 points to 1.13 points. The lowest reading of 2026 so far came on February 26: 5.98%.
Finding a past week, or the whole history as a CSV
For a one-off question, Freddie Mac's PMMS archive lists every release by year. The October 9, 2025 release, for example, shows 6.30% for the 30-year and 5.53% for the 15-year. For the full series, the "Download Rates Since 1971" link on the PMMS page delivers an Excel workbook, not a CSV. Its Full History sheet also has columns for fees and points and for the 5/1 adjustable-rate mortgage; those cells are empty from November 17, 2022 onward, and an empty cell there means not published, not zero.
If you need a CSV, the St. Louis Fed's FRED database republishes both series and exports them directly. The 30-year history (MORTGAGE30US) starts with the week of April 2, 1971, and the 15-year history (MORTGAGE15US) starts in 1991, the year Freddie Mac added that rate. FRED keeps Freddie Mac's release dates, so holiday weeks appear under Wednesday dates such as November 26, 2025.
Two cautions before quoting a number for a specific date. First, match the date to a release window, not to the nearest Thursday. Monday, October 19, 2026 falls inside the October 22 release's window of October 15 through 21, so that release is the closest timing match, although a lock date alone does not tell you when an application reached Freddie Mac's system. Second, mind the method break. Until November 17, 2022, Freddie Mac surveyed lenders, collected rates Monday through Wednesday and published at 10 a.m. ET; since then it has averaged application data. Its researchers estimated that the two approaches differed by about 0.066 percentage points on average for the 30-year rate from 2005 through 2021, small on a long-run chart but not when someone compares readings across the switch to the hundredth.
Third-party tables can also disagree with Freddie Mac. Mortgage News Daily's survey comparison table, checked on October 29, 2026, lists 0.00 in the points column and 6.27% as the prior-year rate beside Freddie Mac's 7.32% for October 22. Freddie Mac publishes no points figure now, and its own release compares that week with 6.19%; 6.27% is the reading Freddie Mac published on October 16, 2025. When sources disagree, Freddie Mac's archive is the reference.
The borrower behind the average
Since the November 2022 switch, Freddie Mac averages the rates on purchase applications that lenders submit to its automated underwriting system, Loan Product Advisor, and keeps only the files that fit a fixed profile. The research note that announced the change lists the filters, and each one tells you which quotes the weekly number can benchmark.
| Filter | What the PMMS keeps | Excluded or not measured separately |
|---|---|---|
| Loan purpose | Home purchase applications | Refinance quotes |
| Loan type | Conventional, conforming, fully amortizing; not offered or secured by a government entity | Government-backed loans such as FHA loans |
| Loan size | Within the national conforming loan limit set by FHFA: $647,200 in 2022, when the method changed; $832,750 for a one-unit home in 2026 | Larger balances: jumbo loans and, under the national-limit filter, high-cost-area loans above the baseline |
| Loan-to-value | 75% to 80%, roughly 20% to 25% down on a purchase | Smaller down payments, and larger ones too |
| Credit | FICO score of 740 or above | Lower scores |
| Property | Single-unit, owner-occupied, in the lower 48 states or the District of Columbia | Investment and multi-unit properties; Alaska, Hawaii and U.S. territories |
| Stage | Applications, not closed loans, and not only locked rates | No separate figure for locked or closed-loan rates |
| Costs | Interest rate only; average points and fees no longer published | Points and fees are not reported, and Freddie Mac's filters do not list points as a screening criterion |
Two rows deserve a closer look. The loan-to-value filter cuts both ways. If the price and appraised value match, 30% down means 70% loan-to-value and 5% down means 95%, and both buyers fall outside the average. Loan-to-value compares the loan with the home's appraised value, and our home equity explainer shows how quickly it moves.
The costs row is the other. Freddie Mac stopped publishing average points in November 2022 because lenders are not always required to report fees and points in its underwriting data, so the weekly figure cannot tell you how many points sit behind the average rate. Its 2022 note added that among loans it funded that fit the profile and closed from 2018 through 2021, purchase rates were nearly the same whether or not borrowers bought discount points. That describes a past period, not your lender. Points lower the rate in exchange for paying more at closing, so an offer with points can sit below the PMMS average without being cheaper overall, and our points break-even guide shows how to price that trade. Lender credits work the other way, cutting closing costs for a higher rate.
What the move means for a monthly payment
Percentages hide the money, so take an example rather than a quote: a $400,000 loan on a home bought and appraised at $500,000, which is 80% loan-to-value and under the 2026 baseline limit. The table shows principal and interest only, with each payment and difference rounded from unrounded figures.
| PMMS reading | Rate | Term | Monthly payment | Versus Oct 22, 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 low (Feb 26) | 5.98% | 30 years | $2,393 | $355 less |
| Same week of 2025 (Oct 23, 2025) | 6.19% | 30 years | $2,447 | $300 less |
| Latest (Oct 22, 2026) | 7.32% | 30 years | $2,748 | Reference |
| 2026 high (Oct 8 and Oct 15) | 7.40% | 30 years | $2,770 | $22 more |
| Latest 15-year (Oct 22, 2026) | 6.68% | 15 years | $3,524 | $776 more |
The one-week change is the smallest number in the table. The slip from 7.40% to 7.32% is worth about $22 a month on this loan, while the year-over-year rise is worth about $300 a month, roughly $3,600 a year. The figure I would keep in mind is the range inside 2026 alone: holding the example loan fixed and swapping in the February low and the October high moves the payment by about $376 a month. The 15-year line costs $776 more a month at the latest averages but is scheduled to be paid off in half the time. Which term suits you is a budget question the survey cannot answer.
None of these figures include property tax, homeowners insurance or mortgage insurance, which is why our article on the full monthly housing cost treats the loan payment as the first line of a budget, not the whole of it. Early payments are also mostly interest: in the first month of the 7.32% example, about $2,440 of the $2,748 goes to interest, a pattern our amortization explainer walks through.
When the number updates, including Thanksgiving week
Freddie Mac publishes the PMMS on Thursdays at noon Eastern time and moves it to Wednesday when a U.S. holiday falls on the Thursday. In a normal week, applications count from 12:00 a.m. ET on the prior Thursday through 11:59 p.m. ET on Wednesday, so a release says nothing about rates offered on the day it comes out.
The holiday rule applies next month. Freddie Mac's 2026 calendar lists a Wednesday, November 25 release covering November 19 through November 24, six days of applications instead of seven, followed by a December 3 release covering November 26 through December 2. Christmas and New Year's Day fall on Fridays this time, so December 24 and December 31 remain ordinary Thursday releases.
How to use the weekly number
Use the weekly number as a reference point, not as a price you can get. If your application matches the profile, a quote far from the latest average is a reason to ask what differs: points or lender credits, loan amount, down payment, credit score, property type or the date the rate was set. If it does not match, because of a 10% down payment, an FHA loan or a jumbo balance, the weekly number is context rather than a benchmark. The gap alone cannot tell you whether an offer is competitive, so compare offers for the same borrower, product, timing and costs.
Either way, convert a move into dollars before reacting. On the $400,000 example, the latest eight-hundredths drop is worth about $22 a month and the past year's 1.13-point rise about $300. Those differences apply to a new loan taken at the compared rates. On a fixed-rate mortgage you already have, the rate stays the same for as long as you keep the loan, so a PMMS move does not change your principal-and-interest payment.
Sources
- Freddie Mac · Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS) and FAQ — latest weekly averages, release timing, application window, data source, discontinued points and ARM series
- Freddie Mac · PMMS archive, 2026 weekly data — 2026 weekly 30-year and 15-year averages
- Freddie Mac · PMMS archive, 2025 weekly data — 2025 weekly averages used for year-earlier comparisons
- Freddie Mac · PMMS publication calendar (PDF) — publication dates and the application week behind each release
- Freddie Mac Research · Freddie Mac's Newly Enhanced Mortgage Rate Survey Explained (November 2022) — selection filters, application-stage limits, points finding, old survey method and method difference
- Freddie Mac · Historical weekly data since 1971 (XLSX) — full-history workbook and its columns
- FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis · MORTGAGE30US series — series notes, source and frequency
- FRED · MORTGAGE30US full data table — date range and first observation of the 30-year series
- FRED · MORTGAGE30US CSV download — CSV export and holiday-week release dates
- FRED · MORTGAGE15US CSV download — first observation of the 15-year series
- FHFA · Conforming loan limit values for 2026 — 2026 baseline limit for one-unit properties
- FHFA · Conforming loan limits — definition of jumbo loans
- CFPB · What is a loan-to-value ratio? — loan-to-value definition; FHA loans as government-insured
- CFPB · How should I use lender credits and points? — how points and lender credits trade rate against closing costs
- Mortgage News Daily · 30 Year Fixed Mortgage Rates survey comparison — third-party table showing Freddie Mac's October 22 reading
Editorial note
This article was prepared with the help of AI tools and checked against the sources listed above on 2026-10-29. Worked examples are illustrative unless a source is cited. Read our editorial standards, or tell us if you spot an error.