Key facts
- Thirty-year jumbo mortgage rates averaged 7.62%, down 7 basis points in a week, per HousingWire's Mortgage Rates Center.
- FHA-backed 30-year rates averaged 7.16%, down 8 basis points in a week, per HousingWire's Mortgage Rates Center.
- CME Group's FedWatch tool showed 77% of interest rate traders predicting a 25-basis-point increase in December.
- HousingWire lead analyst Morten Olesen wrote that tighter monetary policy has created financial pain for some AI companies.
- Hector Amendola of SimplyPMG said a December hike is already reflected in current rates and large moves are unlikely for the rest of 2026.
- Mat Ishbia of United Wholesale Mortgage said the housing executive order contains ideas that will help and some that will not.
The average rate on a US 30-year mortgage was 7.38% on Tuesday, November 3, 2026, the same as a week earlier, according to HousingWire's Mortgage Rates Center. Thirty-year jumbo loans averaged 7.62%, down 7 basis points over the week, and 30-year Federal Housing Administration loans averaged 7.16%, down 8 basis points.
The flat headline rate followed a week in which the Federal Reserve held the federal funds rate at a range of 3.75% to 4% in a decision the report described as widely expected. The report said policymakers raised rates in September and that further increases are anticipated, with CME Group's FedWatch tool showing 77% of interest rate traders predicting a 25-basis-point increase in December.
HousingWire lead analyst Morten Olesen wrote that tighter monetary policy has created financial pain for some AI companies. The report said the Fed is focused on the inflationary aspects of AI and associated debt-financing issues, and that the 10-year Treasury yield has been dropping, which it said has placed downward pressure on mortgage rates.
Hector Amendola, president of Las Vegas-based lender SimplyPMG, told HousingWire he believes a December increase is already reflected in current rates and that large moves in either direction are unlikely for the rest of 2026. He said rates have been rising for a while on the expectation the Fed will raise a little more until inflation is tamed.
Fed Chair Kevin Warsh announced the week before the report that the central bank would shift to fewer policy votes in each of the next two years. The report said the Federal Open Market Committee meets eight times a year with a vote after each meeting, and that the number of votes will fall to seven in 2027 and potentially six in 2028. Amendola said the change puts more weight on each meeting and that the Fed's approach so far has been to wait for data.
In the month before the report, President Donald Trump signed an executive order aimed at lowering costs in several areas of housing finance. The report listed proactive mortgage insurance cancellations for conventional loan servicers, an expanded title waiver program through the Federal Housing Finance Agency, reduced rates on some government-backed loans and the creation of a manufactured housing task force.
Mat Ishbia, president and CEO of United Wholesale Mortgage, said in his monthly video that housing affordability is a focus in Washington and that some of the ideas will help while some will not. Amendola said his company has long supported waiving title insurance on refinances with loan-to-value ratios below 80%, and that letting servicers of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans help borrowers cancel mortgage insurance at the statutory threshold is a bigger deal than people think. The report said US Mortgage Insurers have expressed support for the move while some analysts call it fairly benign for mortgage insurers' financial performance.