Mortgage Rates, Now 6.5%, Hit Highest Level Since War Began

The interest rate on a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage rose on Thursday to its highest level since the war began, upending several weeks of steady rates as the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran approached its third month without significant progress toward peace.

The 30-year rate hit 6.51 percent, the mortgage finance giant Freddie Mac said. That’s up from 6.36 percent the week before, and the highest since August.

That rate was still significantly below the peak of 7.79 percent in October 2023. But the increase comes when consumers in the United States are grappling with more debt and higher prices due to constrained energy supplies. Disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz, a vital oil passageway in the Persian Gulf, has choked off about 20 percent of the world’s oil supply since the war began on Feb. 28.

That has spiked costs on everyday items including fuel and groceries. On Thursday, the average price for a gallon of regular gasoline in the United States was $4.56, according to the AAA motor club. That was 53 percent higher than before the war began.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/21/business/mortgage-rates-rise-economy.html