Average Interest Rate on Outstanding U.S. Mortgages · %

## What this measures

The average contract interest rate across all first-lien residential mortgages open at the end of each quarter, weighted by number of mortgages, from FHFA's National Mortgage Database. Q1 2013 to Q2 2026.

## Why it matters

What the stock of U.S. mortgages actually costs its borrowers. It moves slowly, because only new loans and refinancings change it, so the gap to the market rate is the lock-in.

## How to read it

Q2 2026: 4.4%. Compare it with the Freddie Mac 30-year rate (fred_mortgage30); the difference is housing.nmdb.rate_gap.

## What it does not say

NMDB is a nationally representative 5% sample of closed-end first-lien residential mortgages in Experian credit files, not a census; FHFA suppresses cells with fewer than three sample loans. Shares are by number of mortgages (VALUE1); by unpaid balance (VALUE2) the high-rate buckets weigh more because newer loans are larger. Rates are the contract rate: an adjustable-rate loan counts at its current rate.

## Source

Federal Housing Finance Agency, National Mortgage Database (NMDB®) aggregate statistics, outstanding residential mortgage statistics, national, quarterly (https://www.fhfa.gov/document/d/nmdb/nmdb-outstanding-mortgage-statistics-national-census-areas-quarterly.zip); data dictionary and technical notes 2026Q1. NMDB is a joint FHFA and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau program; FHFA publishes these aggregates. U.S. government work: "information and materials produced by Federal agencies, including FHFA, are in the public domain" (fhfa.gov website policy). Read weekly by /api/cron/fhfa-state-hpi-sync.