Today's mortgage rates

Your mortgage rate — also called the note rate or interest rate — is the percentage a lender charges you each year for borrowing the money, expressed as an annual figure and applied to your remaining balance. It is what drives the interest half of your monthly principal-and-interest payment.

The note rate is not the whole cost of the loan. Lender fees, points, and certain closing costs are real money you pay to get that rate, and they do not appear in it. That is what the APR is for.

The interest rate is the cost of borrowing the principal. The annual percentage rate (APR) is the interest rate plus the lender fees and prepaid finance charges required to get the loan, spread across the full loan term and re-expressed as a yearly rate.

APR is the number that lets you compare two offers honestly. A lender can advertise a low note rate and recover it in points and fees; the APR will be visibly higher than the rate when that happens. If two quotes have the same rate but different APRs, the one with the lower APR costs you less to obtain.

One caveat worth knowing: APR assumes you keep the loan for its full term. If you expect to sell or refinance within a few years, a low-fee loan at a slightly higher rate often beats a low-rate loan with heavy points, even though APR flatters the second one.

One point is one percent of your loan amount, paid at closing, in exchange for a lower rate for the life of the loan. On a $400,000 loan, one point is $4,000.

Whether it is worth it comes down to your break-even: divide what the points cost by the monthly payment they save you, and you get the number of months you must keep the loan before you come out ahead. Keep the loan longer than that and the points paid off; sell or refinance sooner and they did not.

Because break-even depends entirely on how long you keep the loan, this is a question worth asking a person rather than a calculator. Ask us to price your scenario with and without points so you can see both.

Daily, and on volatile days more than once. Lenders publish a rate sheet each morning and can reprice intraday when the bond market moves sharply — a hot inflation print or a surprise Fed signal will do it.

This is why any rate you see published anywhere, including the survey averages on this page, is a snapshot rather than an offer. The only rate that is genuinely yours is a locked one.

A rate lock is a lender's written commitment to honour a specific rate for a set window — commonly 30, 45, or 60 days — while your loan is processed and closed. Once locked, market moves cannot raise your rate inside that window.

Longer locks generally cost more. The right length is the one that comfortably covers your expected closing date, since extending a lock that expires costs money and stress. Talk to your advisor about timing rather than trying to call the market's bottom.

No, though it is the single most common assumption we hear. The Fed sets the federal funds rate, an overnight bank-to-bank rate, which directly drives short-term credit like credit cards and home equity lines.

Thirty-year mortgage rates follow the bond market instead — specifically the 10-year Treasury yield and mortgage-backed securities pricing. Those move on inflation expectations and growth outlook, which is why mortgage rates sometimes rise on the day the Fed cuts: the cut was already priced in, and the accompanying commentary said something the bond market did not like.

Four levers, roughly in order of impact. Raise your credit score, since pricing tiers step at defined thresholds and crossing one is worth more than most people expect. Put more down, because loan-to-value drives pricing adjustments. Lower your debt-to-income ratio by paying down or paying off revolving balances. And choose the loan structure that fits how long you will actually keep the house.

Then shop it. As a broker, Bloom prices your file across a panel of wholesale lenders rather than one lender's sheet, which is the fifth lever and the one you do not have to do yourself.

Often slightly, yes. Pricing adjustments differ by transaction type, and a cash-out refinance typically prices above a rate-and-term refinance, which in turn may price a little above a comparable purchase. Your equity position matters here the way a down payment does on a purchase.

When the math clears your break-even and the loan fits your plans. Add up the full closing costs of the new loan, divide by the monthly saving, and you get the months you need to stay put to come out ahead.

Rate is not the only reason to refinance, though. Dropping mortgage insurance you no longer need, moving off an adjustable rate before it adjusts, shortening your term, or consolidating higher-interest debt can each justify a refinance at a rate that is not lower than what you have.

Nobody reliably times the bottom, and waiting has a cost of its own if you are paying more than you need to in the meantime. The more useful question is whether today's number beats your current one by enough to clear your break-even within the time you plan to keep the home.

If it does not yet, we will tell you so and set a target instead of talking you into a loan. Ask us to run the break-even and put a rate alert on your file.