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Mortgage rates sail past 7% as market moves into critical spring homebuying season

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Mortgage rates climbed to a new high this week, but buyers are adjusting. (iStock)

Mortgage rates sailed past 7%, likely dampening homebuying appetite during the market’s critical spring homebuying season, according to Freddie Mac.

The average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was 7.10% for the week ending April 18, according to Freddie Mac’s latest Primary Mortgage Market Survey. That’s an increase from the previous week when it averaged 6.88%. A year ago, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.39%. 

The average rate for a 15-year mortgage was 6.39%, up from 6.16% last week and up from 5.76% last year.

Homebuyers have seen rates teeter near the 7% market since the start of the year. Borrowing costs are likely to continue elevated as the prospect of a Federal Reserve interest rate cut moves further into the distance. 

The central bank said at its March meeting that it would continue to monitor inflation and other economic indicators to determine when to lower rates. Market expectations were for a first cut to come early in the summer, but the timeline may be later since the latest inflation figures show it is pushing up again.

“As rates trend higher, potential homebuyers are deciding whether to buy before rates rise even more or hold off in hopes of decreases later in the year,” Freddie Mac’s Chief Economist Sam Khater said. “Last week, purchase applications rose modestly, but it remains unclear how many homebuyers can withstand increasing rates in the future.”

If you are ready to shop for the best rate on a new mortgage, consider visiting an online marketplace like Credible to compare rates and get preapproved with multiple lenders at once.

BUY A HOME IN THESE STATES TO GET STUDENT LOAN DEBT RELIEF

Mortgage rates stay higher for longer

Spring buying will likely be tamed by still-too-high borrowing costs and limited housing inventory, two factors that have impacted homebuyer affordability. 

Despite these ongoing affordability hurdles, Fannie Mae’s March Home Purchase Sentiment Index showed that 21% of homeowners say now is a “good time to buy,” up from 19% the previous month. The percentage of homesellers who said it is a good time to sell a home increased slightly to 66% from 65%. The mortgage giant has also forecasted an uptick in housing inventory this year driven by households who may need to move for other life reasons.

“The stubbornly high mortgage rates continue to be the largest obstacle to buying a home,” Voxtur’s SVP of Enterprise Business Development Lloyd San said. “What’s more, rates are not going down as we head into the spring homebuying season, when sales would usually tick up. That will still happen; homebuying will increase, but its potential will be stifled, largely because of mortgage rates.”

If you’re looking to become a homeowner, you could still find the best mortgage rates by shopping around. Visit Credible to compare your options without affecting your credit score.

HOMEOWNERS COULD SAVE TENS OF THOUSANDS IN DAMAGES BY USING SMART DEVICES

Home insurance adds to affordability issues

Rising insurance costs have also impacted homeowner affordability. According to a recent Insurify report, home insurance premiums for a $300,000 property in the U.S. increased 12% in 2023 to an average of $1,770 per year. 

However, homes in areas at risk of more climate-related damages tend to pay higher premiums, while homes in less disaster-prone areas pay less. For example, homeowners in Florida — a state battered by high-cost natural disasters — pay an annual average of $9,213. Americans living in Vermont, a “very low” or “relatively low” risk state in FEMA’s National Risk Index, pay an average rate of $914.

Additionally, homeowners in disaster-prone areas face the challenge of finding an insurer. The cost of climate-related catastrophes has pushed several major home insurers to stop renewing certain policies or leave states like Florida and California entirely. 

If you have a mortgage, you’re typically required to carry homeowners insurance, but you don’t have to stick with any particular insurance company. Visit Credible to compare home insurance rates from top insurance carriers all in one place.

MORTGAGE LOAN LIMIT RISES ABOVE $1.1M AS HOME PRICES SURGE

Have a finance-related question, but don’t know who to ask? Email The Credible Money Expert at [email protected] and your question might be answered by Credible in our Money Expert column.

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Chase CEO Jamie Dimon says markets are too complacent

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Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, leaves the U.S. Capitol after a meeting with Republican members of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee on the issue of de-banking on Feb. 13, 2025.

Tom Williams | Cq-roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said Monday that markets and central bankers underappreciate the risks created by record U.S. deficits, tariffs and international tensions.

Dimon, the veteran CEO and chairman of the biggest U.S. bank by assets, explained his worldview during his bank’s annual investor day meeting in New York. He said he believes the risks of higher inflation and even stagflation aren’t properly represented by stock market values, which have staged a comeback from lows in April.

“We have huge deficits; we have what I consider almost complacent central banks,” Dimon said. “You all think they can manage all this. I don’t think” they can, he said.

“My own view is people feel pretty good because you haven’t seen effective tariffs” yet, Dimon said. “The market came down 10%, [it’s] back up 10%; that’s an extraordinary amount of complacency.”

Dimon’s comments follow Moody’s rating agency downgrading the U.S. credit rating on Friday over concerns about the government’s growing debt burden. Markets have been whipsawed the past few months over worries that President Donald Trump‘s trade policies will raise inflation and slow the world’s largest economy.

Dimon said Monday that he believed Wall Street earnings estimates for S&P 500 companies, which have already declined in the first weeks of Trump’s trade policies, will fall further as companies pull or lower guidance amid the uncertainty.

In six months, those projections will fall to 0% earnings growth after starting the year at around 12%, Dimon said. If that were to happen, stocks prices will likely fall.

“I think earnings estimates will come down, which means PE will come down,” Dimon said, referring to the “price to earnings” ratio tracked closely by stock market analysts.

The odds of stagflation, “which is basically a recession with inflation,” are roughly double what the market thinks, Dimon added.

Separately, one of Dimon’s top deputies said that corporate clients are still in “wait-and-see” mode when it comes to acquisitions and other deals.

Investment banking revenue is headed for a “mid-teens” percentage decline in the second quarter compared with the year-earlier period, while trading revenue was trending higher by a “mid-to-high” single digit percentage, said Troy Rohrbaugh, a co-head of the firm’s commercial and investment bank.

On the ever-present question of Dimon’s timeline to hand over the CEO reins to one of his deputies, Dimon said that nothing changed from his guidance last year, when he said he would likely remain for less than five more years.

“If I’m here for four more years, and maybe two more” as executive chairman, Dimon said, “that’s a long time.”

Of all the executive presentations given Monday, consumer banking chief Marianne Lake had the longest speaking time at a full hour. She is considered a top successor candidate, especially after Chief Operating Officer Jennifer Piepszak said she would not be seeking the top job.

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Stocks making the biggest moves midday: UNH, TSLA, BABA

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Klarna doubles losses in first quarter as IPO remains on hold

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Sebastian Siemiatkowski, CEO of Klarna, speaking at a fintech event in London on Monday, April 4, 2022.

Chris Ratcliffe | Bloomberg via Getty Images

Klarna saw its losses jump in the first quarter as the popular buy now, pay later firm applies the brakes on a hotly anticipated U.S. initial public offering.

The Swedish payments startup said its net loss for the first three months of 2025 totaled $99 million — significantly worse than the $47 million loss it reported a year ago. Klarna said this was due to several one-off costs related to depreciation, share-based payments and restructuring.

Revenues at the firm increased 13% year-over-year to $701 million. Klarna said it now has 100 million active users and 724,00 merchant partners globally.

It comes as Klarna remains in pause mode regarding a highly anticipated U.S. IPO that was at one stage set to value the SoftBank-backed company at over $15 billion.

Klarna put its IPO plans on hold last month due to market turbulence caused by President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariff plans. Online ticketing platform StubHub also put its IPO plans on ice.

Prior to the IPO delay, Klarna had been on a marketing blitz touting itself as an artificial intelligence-powered fintech. The company partnered up with ChatGPT maker OpenAI in 2023. A year later, Klarna used OpenAI technology to create an AI customer service assistant.

Last week, Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski said the company was able to shrink its headcount by about 40%, in part due to investments in AI.

Watch CNBC's full interview with Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski

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