Mortgage and refinance rates today, Jan. 30, 2023

Today’s mortgage and refinance rates

Average mortgage rates moved higher last Friday and across the previous seven days. But the overall change has been small and will barely affect your mortgage quote.

Earlier this morning, it was looking as if mortgage rates today might rise, perhaps just a bit. But that could change as the hours pass.

Current mortgage and refinance rates

Should you lock a mortgage rate today?

There are a couple of danger points for mortgage rates later this week (see below). But I’m hopeful those rates will be roughly where they are — or lower than — now in a couple of weeks.

My recommendations (below) are intended to give longer-term suggestions about the overall direction of those rates. So, they don’t change daily to reflect fleeting sentiments in volatile markets.

Here are my personal rate lock recommendations:

• LOCK if closing in 7 days
• LOCK if closing in 15 days
• FLOAT if closing in 30 days
• FLOAT if closing in 45 days
• FLOAT if closing in 60 days

However, with so much uncertainty at the moment, your instincts could easily turn out to be as good as mine — or better. So let your gut and your own tolerance for risk help guide you.

Why are the first two recommendations still to lock? Because there’s too much risk of volatility to take chances so near to closing. Of course, if you’re happy with that risk, float away.

>Related: 7 Tips to get the best refinance rate

Market data affecting today’s mortgage rates

Here’s a snapshot of the state of play this morning at about 9:50 a.m. (ET). The data, compared with roughly the same time last Friday, were:

• The yield on 10-year Treasury notes rose to 3.55% from 3.53%. (Bad for mortgage rates.) More than any other market, mortgage rates typically tend to follow these particular Treasury bond yields
• Major stock indexes were lower soon after opening. (Sometimes good for mortgage rates.) When investors buy shares, they’re often selling bonds, which pushes those prices down and increases yields and mortgage rates. The opposite may happen when indexes are lower. But this is an imperfect relationship
• Oil prices decreased to $78.40 from $81.90 a barrel. (Good for mortgage rates*.) Energy prices play a prominent role in creating inflation and also point to future economic activity
• Gold prices moved higher to $1,942 from $1,922 an ounce. (Good for mortgage rates*.) It is generally better for rates when gold rises and worse when gold falls. Gold tends to rise when investors worry about the economy.
• CNN Business Fear & Greed index — inched lower to 69 from 70 out of 100. (Good for mortgage rates.) “Greedy” investors push bond prices down (and interest rates up) as they leave the bond market and move into stocks, while “fearful” investors do the opposite. So lower readings are often better than higher ones

*A movement of less than $20 on gold prices or 40 cents on oil ones is a change of 1% or less. So we only count meaningful differences as good or bad for mortgage rates.

Caveats about markets and rates

Before the pandemic and the Federal Reserve’s interventions in the mortgage market, you could look at the above figures and make a pretty good guess about what would happen to mortgage rates that day. But that’s no longer the case. We still make daily calls. And are usually right. But our record for accuracy won’t achieve its former high levels until things settle down.

So, use markets only as a rough guide. Because they have to be exceptionally strong or weak to rely on them. But, with that caveat, mortgage rates today look likely to rise. However, be aware that “intraday swings” (when rates change speed or direction during the day) are a common feature right now.

Important notes on today’s mortgage rates

Here are some things you need to know:

1. Typically, mortgage rates go up when the economy’s doing well and down when it’s in trouble. But there are exceptions. Read ‘How mortgage rates are determined and why you should care’
2. Only “top-tier” borrowers (with stellar credit scores, big down payments and very healthy finances) get the ultralow mortgage rates you’ll see advertised
3. Lenders vary. Yours may or may not follow the crowd when it comes to daily rate movements — though they all usually follow the broader trend over time
4. When daily rate changes are small, some lenders will adjust closing costs and leave their rate cards the same
5. Refinance rates are typically close to those for purchases.

A lot is going on at the moment. And nobody can claim to know with certainty what will happen to mortgage rates in the coming hours, days, weeks or months.

Are mortgage and refinance rates rising or falling?

Pretty much everyone expects the Federal Reserve to announce a 0.25% (25-basis-point) rate hike on Wednesday afternoon. Overnight, the CME FedWatch tool put the probability at 98.9%.

And we know that five out of the seven members of the Fed’s rate-setting body who spoke publicly a couple of weeks ago seemed to explicitly or implicitly support that sort of small rise. So, it’s looking highly likely. And that would be good for mortgage rates, leaving them roughly where they are or moving them a little lower.

But, of course, nothing’s certain until the announcement’s made. And a higher increase than expected would probably push mortgage rates up a long way.

Jobs report

Friday morning’s employment situation report for January just might cause problems for mortgage rates. That depends on what data it brings.

It would be good for those rates if the crucial numbers showed the labor market tightening. In other words, we (as mortgage rate watchers) want to see on Friday fewer new jobs, a higher unemployment rate and slowing growth in average hourly earnings.

Economists are expecting those to be delivered. However, they’ve been wrong when forecasting this report in the recent past. And the labor market has proved remarkably resilient.

So, Friday could easily see an appreciable rise in mortgage rates, though it may well not. But I wouldn’t expect any such increase to last more than a week or two before returning to current levels.

Just note that this prediction is based on two assumptions: First, that Friday’s report is disappointingly good (more jobs and higher earnings) rather than shockingly so. And, secondly, that other economic reports over the next couple of weeks don’t push mortgage rates higher.

Right now, I reckon there’s a good chance of mortgage rates staying roughly where they are or falling modestly in the coming weeks. But nobody can be certain of what the future holds.

For more background on mortgage rates, please read the latest weekend edition of this daily rates report.

Recent trends

According to Freddie Mac’s archives, the weekly all-time low for mortgage rates was set on Jan. 7, 2021, when it stood at 2.65% for conventional, 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages.

Freddie’s Jan. 26 report put that same weekly average at 6.13%, down from the previous week’s 6.15%.

In November, Freddie stopped including discount points in its forecasts. It has also delayed until later in the day the time at which it publishes its Thursday reports. And, from now on, we'll be updating this section on Fridays.

Expert mortgage rate forecasts

Looking further ahead, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) each has a team of economists dedicated to monitoring and forecasting what will happen to the economy, the housing sector and mortgage rates.

And here are their rate forecasts for the current quarter (Q4/22) and the first three quarters of next year (Q1/23, Q2/23 and Q3/24).

The numbers in the table below are for 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages. Fannie’s and the MBA’s forecasts appeared on Jan. 20. Freddie’s was published on Oct. 21. Freddie now publishes its forecasts quarterly and its figures can quickly become stale.

Of course, given so many unknowables, the whole current crop of forecasts might be even more speculative than usual. And their past record for accuracy hasn’t been wildly impressive.

Find your lowest rate today

You should comparison shop widely, no matter what sort of mortgage you want. As federal regulator the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau says:

“Shopping around for your mortgage has the potential to lead to real savings. It may not sound like much, but saving even a quarter of a point in interest on your mortgage saves you thousands of dollars over the life of your loan.”

Mortgage rate methodology

The Mortgage Reports receives rates based on selected criteria from multiple lending partners each day. We arrive at an average rate and APR for each loan type to display in our chart. Because we average an array of rates, it gives you a better idea of what you might find in the marketplace. Furthermore, we average rates for the same loan types. For example, FHA fixed with FHA fixed. The end result is a good snapshot of daily rates and how they change over time.