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Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →On Monday, August 26, 2024, the Bankrate lender-survey average for a 30-year fixed mortgage was 6.51% for a purchase loan and 6.49% for a refinance. Freddie Mac’s separate weekly survey, published four days earlier, put its 30-year fixed average at 6.46%. These are historical survey averages, not current rates or personalized loan offers.
Bankrate’s August 26 daily rate averages
The dated report attributes the following purchase and refinance averages to Bankrate’s lender survey. The categories and loan terms differ, so the figures are not interchangeable quotes for an individual borrower. Bankrate’s August 26, 2024 report lists the rates below.
| Loan type | Purchase average | Refinance average |
|---|---|---|
| 30-year fixed | 6.51% | 6.49% |
| 20-year fixed | 6.32% | 6.31% |
| 15-year fixed | 5.91% | 5.94% |
| 10-year fixed | 5.91% | 5.91% |
| 5/1 adjustable-rate mortgage | 6.05% | 5.99% |
| 30-year FHA | 6.54% | 6.64% |
| 30-year VA | 6.61% | 7.28% |
| 30-year jumbo | 6.63% | 6.54% |
Bankrate currently describes its national rate and APR averages as daily and weekly figures collected primarily from the five largest banks and thrifts across hundreds of U.S. markets. That is general current methodology context; it does not independently establish the exact sample used for the August 2024 report. Bankrate’s current mortgage-rate page provides that general description.
Freddie Mac’s weekly survey was a different figure
Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS), published Thursday, August 22, 2024, reported a 6.46% average for 30-year fixed mortgages and 5.62% for 15-year fixed mortgages. The preceding week’s averages were 6.49% and 5.66%, respectively. A year earlier, on August 22, 2023, they were 7.23% and 6.55%. These are Freddie Mac weekly figures, not Bankrate’s August 26 daily survey readings. Freddie Mac’s August 22 release reports the weekly rates and comparisons.
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What Freddie Mac’s average represents
Freddie Mac says PMMS focuses on conventional, conforming, fully amortizing home-purchase loans for borrowers with excellent credit who put 20% down. Its scope therefore does not represent every loan type or borrower profile. Because the two organizations report distinct surveys with different scopes, the figures should not be treated as a like-for-like reading; the available sources do not establish a more specific reason for their difference.
How to use this historical rate snapshot
- For the August 26 purchase average, use the Bankrate 30-year fixed figure of 6.51%; for a refinance average on that date, use 6.49%.
- Use Freddie Mac’s 6.46% only when referring to its weekly PMMS published August 22, not as an August 26 daily rate.
- Compare figures only after matching the source, date, purchase versus refinance purpose, term, and loan category. FHA, VA, and jumbo averages are distinct categories from the fixed-term averages.
- Do not use these historical averages as a current quote or a guarantee of what a lender would offer an applicant.
What Freddie Mac’s economist said at the time
In the August 22, 2024 release, Freddie Mac Chief Economist Sam Khater said: “Although mortgage rates have stayed relatively flat over the past couple of weeks, softer incoming economic data suggest rates will gently slope downward through the end of the year,” Freddie Mac’s release. This was his forecast as of that date, not a current outlook.
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