Mortgage Rates in the US Hold at the Lowest Level Since May 2023

(Bloomberg) -- Mortgage rates in the US held steady, giving homebuyers a crack at the lowest loan costs since May 2023.

The average for a 30-year, fixed loan was 6.35%, the same as last week, Freddie Mac said in a statement Thursday.

Home-loan costs have come down in recent months on expectations that Federal Reserve policymakers will announce their first interest-rate cut at their Sept. 18 meeting. Traders are awaiting employment data for August, due out Friday, which may determine the size of the reduction.

The decline in mortgage rates so far hasn’t been enough to motivate hesitant homebuyers, who may be holding off until financing gets cheaper. Affordability also remains a hurdle, with prices at or near record highs in many parts of the country.

“Even though rates have come down over the summer, home sales have been lackluster,” Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist, said in the statement. “On the refinance side however, homeowners who bought in recent years are taking advantage of declining mortgage rates in order to lower their monthly payments.”