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Marketing Pulse Aug 13

Two soft inflation prints land, but rates barely move

CPI and PPI both cooled this week while Bankrate's 30Y held near 6.74% — plus a record seller-buyer gap in Redfin's July data.

Thursday, August 13, 2026 30Y 6.77%15Y 6.61%5/1 ARM 6.36%

Two rounds of good inflation news landed this week — CPI on Monday, PPI this morning — and that's a real, explainable trend. But it's also the kind of content opportunity most LOs waste: rates barely moved despite it, which is itself the more useful thing to explain to clients who assume "good inflation news" means "rates are dropping" on a 1:1 basis. Separately, Redfin's new July figure is a strong local-market talking point in its own right — 51.3% more home sellers than buyers, the widest gap since December — especially useful for any buyer-side lead who doesn't realize how much negotiating leverage just opened up.

The 30-year sits at 6.74% today (Bankrate), essentially flat over the past week (down 2 bps) and only modestly higher than a month ago (up 12 bps) — call it stabilized in the mid-6.7s rather than trending hard either direction. That's still meaningfully below where a lot of 2023-vintage borrowers closed: someone sitting at 7.25% on a $400K loan is looking at roughly $137 less per month at today's rate. Real money, and a legitimate reason to reach out even in a week where the headline rate "didn't move."

Write the explainer while the news peg is fresh: "why two rounds of good inflation news didn't drop your rate" is a short, honest post that builds more trust than a breathless "rates are falling" post would — especially once a borrower checks Bankrate themselves and finds the number basically unchanged from last week. Pair it with a one-line callout on the Redfin seller-buyer gap for buyer-side leads on the fence: "more listings, fewer competing offers than any month since December" is a specific, sourced stat that beats generic "now's a great time to buy" copy.

Do this today

send the $400K-loan payment-savings number (roughly $137/mo vs. a 7.25% rate) to anyone in your pipeline who closed at 7%+ and hasn't had a refi check-in in the past two months.

Borrower segments to act on today

Closed conventional loans at 7.5%+, any vintage

At today's 30Y of 6.74%, a borrower at 7.25%+ is saving roughly $137/mo on a $400K loan — worth a refi check-in even though this week's rate move itself was small.

closed loans · rate ≥7.50% · conventional
Active purchase files still floating, no lock yet

With Redfin showing the widest seller-buyer gap since December, floating purchase borrowers have more negotiating room than they may realize — a good week to check in before they lock.

active loans · purchases

Today’s content angles

Blog post

Why two soft inflation prints didn't drop your rate

Good inflation news came out twice this week — but if you check today's rate and it looks about the same as last week, that's normal, not a glitch. Here's the quick, honest version of why, and what would actually need to happen for rates to move further.

Tactics worth stealing

Lead with a checkable local stat, not a vibe

Redfin's July data shows the widest gap between home sellers and buyers since December — a specific, sourced number that holds up better than a generic 'great time to buy' post. Cite the source and the number directly.

Redfin July 2026 housing data