Mortgage rates climb in May as 30-year averages near 6.7%
Mortgage rates pushed toward 6.7% as a $300,000 loan’s monthly payment rose by about $40 from the low-6.5% range.
National mortgage rates ended May 20 with a spread wide enough to matter to any buyer or refinance shopper. Bankrate put the 30-year fixed at 6.58%, Mortgage Daily showed 6.55%, Forbes Advisor listed 6.73% with a 6.77% APR, and U.S. News reported 6.749%, while NerdWallet’s 30-year APR was 6.56%. On a $300,000 loan, that difference is real money: a payment at 6.55% runs about $1,906 a month in principal and interest, while 6.749% comes to roughly $1,946, nearly $40 more before taxes, insurance or fees.
The gap comes from more than one source quoting the market at once. NerdWallet stamped its rates at 3:30 a.m. EDT, Bankrate posted a current average for May 20, U.S. News updated around 10 a.m., and Forbes Advisor built its table from Mortgage Research Center data. Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey, the benchmark many borrowers watch most closely, is released weekly on Thursdays at noon ET and switches to Wednesday when a Thursday holiday intervenes; its archive stretches back to 1971. Those different update times, plus APR versus note-rate comparisons and different lender samples, help explain why the same day can produce several valid snapshots.
The direction, though, pointed upward. Bankrate’s archive showed the 30-year average at 6.46% on May 14 and 6.47% on May 15 before the current reading reached 6.58%. CNBC reported on May 19 that Kalshi traders had increased the odds that mortgage rates would move above 6.8% this year and even reach 7%, after the 30-year fixed rate jumped to 6.75% earlier in the week. That backdrop matters because spring homebuying was underway and the 30-year fixed remains the default choice for most borrowers, covering roughly 90% of homeowners with a mortgage.
For buyers, the threshold question is not whether 6.7% sounds high or low in the abstract. It is whether the payment still fits if rates stay in the high-6s. On the same $300,000 balance, a 15-year fixed at 5.91% would cost about $2,517 a month, and at 6.02% about $2,535, far above the 30-year payment even though the loan is paid off much faster. That is the central tradeoff in this market: a smaller monthly bill with a 30-year loan, or faster equity buildup with a much larger check each month.
Know something we missed? Have a correction or additional information?
Submit a Tip
