Mortgage rates retreat to 6.36% despite rising inflation

Mortgage rates defied expectations by ticking down slightly this week, even as the latest inflation data revealed that surging oil prices resulting from the ongoing war in the Middle East have now bled into the costs of other goods and services.  The average rate on 30-year fixed home loans retreated to 6.36% for the week ending May 14, down 1 basis point from 6.37% the week before, according to Freddie Mac.For perspective, rates averaged 6.81% during the same period in 2025.“Mortgage rates ticked down this week, averaging 6.36%,” says Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist. “While purchase demand is softening, it remains above this time last year.

Recent data also shows existing-home sales modestly edging up.”The U.S.Labor Department’s consumer price index (CPI) readout released on Tuesday showed that inflation increased by 3.8% in the 12 months through April to its highest level in three years, fueled by the surge in oil prices stemming from the closure of the Strait of Hormuz in Iran.  Despite the yield on the 10-year Treasury note ticking up this week on expectations that price pressures would continue to creep from crude oil into other sectors of the economy, Realtor.com senior economist Joel Berner says mortgage rates stabilized as oil prices steadied and, more importantly, as demand for mortgage-backed securities edged up.“The upward pressure on mortgage rates from the broader debt market was offset this week by a modest increase in the prices of mortgage-backed securities, which pushed mortgage rates down,” explains Berner.Though the mortgage rate relief is very modest, Berner notes that this week’s readout is a sign of some much-wanted stability.“The Freddie Mac rate has been moving in large swings up and down since the onset of the war in Iran, and the whiplash’s effect on buyers has been to keep them sidelined,” adds the economist.

“This is part of the reason why home sales have been stagnant so far in 2026,...