Last year, the path to lower mortgage rates seemed relatively straightforward: Official inflation would go down, the Federal Reserve would cut interest rates and the cost of borrowing would gradually ease in 2025.

Mortgage interest rates pulled back a little this week, but it was hardly enough to erase the past three weeks' gains. The week ending Jan. 9, the average rate on the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage fell four basis points to 6.93%, according to rates provided to NerdWallet by Zillow. A basis point is one-one hundredth of a percentage point.

Mortgage rates are starting 2025 at the highest they've been since last summer on expectations that the Fed will keep rates higher longer.

The biggest wildcard for mortgage rates next year is whether President-elect Trump’s major policy initiatives will end up driving infl

Mortgage rates have steadily increased over the past three months, a frustrating development for home buyers trying to enter the housing market. When the Fed began cutting interest rates in September 2024,