Freddie Mac's weekly survey printed 7.03% on the 30-year fixed Thursday — its first 7-handle since January 2025 and the fifth straight weekly climb — and the bond market kept selling after the survey window closed. The 10-year Treasury finished Thursday at 5.18%, up from 4.96% on Monday: 22 basis points in two sessions. Bankrate's 30-year average stands at 7.17% this morning, level with yesterday, at the top of its 90-day range (6.47%–7.17%) and 47 basis points above where it sat a month ago (6.70%). Two reads on this: Mortgage News Daily's Thursday recap describes a selloff that arrived around 10 a.m. with no obvious intraday catalyst, on unusually heavy futures volume, while Realtor.com's read of the week puts the climb on building inflation pressure and Brent crude holding above $100 a barrel.
The housing data that landed alongside is August data, written before the 30-year crossed 7%. New-home sales rose 6.4% in August to a 684,000 annual pace, still 2.0% below a year earlier. MBA's purchase applications payment index slipped 0.6% to 154.3, with the median applicant payment at $2,162, as smaller loan amounts offset higher rates. Redfin's price index rose 0.25% on the month and 3.7% on the year. September's numbers will be the first to show how buyers respond to a 7% 30-year.
For your borrowers, the month in dollars: at Bankrate's 7.17% a $400,000 30-year carries principal and interest of $2,707 a month, against $2,581 at last month's 6.70% — $126 more. Bankrate's FHA (6.88%) and VA (6.89%) averages sit about 30 basis points under its conventional 30-year, before FHA mortgage insurance. Next week is dense: Case-Shiller on Tuesday, BEA's August PCE on Wednesday, the Freddie survey and jobless claims on Thursday, and the September jobs report on Friday, October 2. The next FOMC meeting is October 27–28, without a new dot plot. A file left floating over the weekend is carrying both the inflation print and payrolls.
Industry and regulatory notes. HouseCanary filed Chapter 11 in New Jersey after a $30 million loan default, and the court approved its first-day motions and debtor-in-possession financing; the filing is meant to buy time to collect a judgment of more than $260 million against Rocket affiliates in a trade-secrets case. A judge tossed former UWM employees' 401(k) lawsuit, which alleged $1.8 million in losses, finding the company did not break the law in handling the plan. NFM Lending faces a lawsuit after the Interlock ransomware group claimed a breach of more than 2.5 terabytes of files — expect borrowers to ask how their documents are stored. Nationstar lost a foreclosure first filed in 2009 because a required notice went to the wrong address, a reminder that notice mechanics decide cases. And HUD opened a 60-day comment period on the information collection behind adjustable-rate mortgage rate disclosures (FR-7110-N-16, OMB 2502-0322); comments close November 24.
pull every floating file set to close in the next 45 days, run the payment at today's rate next to the rate the borrower first saw, and settle the lock-or-float decision before the weekend — PCE on Wednesday and payrolls on Friday both land before Monday's rate sheet is old news.