{"id":534393,"date":"2026-03-20T08:15:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T08:15:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/534393\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T08:15:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T08:15:12","slug":"mortgage-rates-rise-as-iran-war-fans-inflation-fears-and-lifts-treasury-yields","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/534393\/","title":{"rendered":"Mortgage rates rise as Iran war fans inflation fears and lifts Treasury yields"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mortgage rates in the U.S. jumped this week<\/a> to the highest level in three months, as the Iran war\u00a0fans inflation fears<\/a>\u00a0and puts pressure on the U.S. housing market.<\/p>\n

The 30-year fixed mortgage rate rose to 6.22% in the week ending March 19, up from 6.11% the previous week, according to Freddie Mac.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Economists note that current borrowing costs remain well below the 6.67% rate on a conventional 30-year loan a year ago. Still, the latest uptick is a discouraging sign for house hunters as the spring buying season<\/a>\u00a0kicks off. In late February, mortgage rates\u00a0fell below 6%<\/a> for the first time since September 2022.<\/p>\n

“Elevated uncertainty could once again sideline both buyers and sellers, echoing the hesitant market conditions seen last year,” Anthony Smith, senior economist at Realtor.com,\u00a0told<\/a>\u00a0the Associated Press.<\/p>\n

Mortgage applications fell nearly 11% last week from the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. New Census Bureau\u00a0data<\/a>\u00a0also show that sales of new single-family homes dropped nearly 18% in January from the previous month and are down 11.3% from January 2025.<\/p>\n

Iran war impact<\/p>\n

The 30-year fixed mortgage rate has climbed since the conflict in the Middle East<\/a> began in late February. The war has tightened global energy supplies<\/a>, raising oil prices<\/a> and injecting uncertainty into financial markets.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The 10-year Treasury yield, which\u00a0influences<\/a> the direction of mortgage rates, was at 4.26% on Thursday afternoon, up from 3.96% before the war started. As long-term bond yields rise, that pushes up mortgage rates.<\/p>\n

“Rising energy prices and renewed trade uncertainty have lifted inflation expectations, putting upward pressure on longer-term interest rates and, in turn, mortgage rates,” Realtor.com senior economist Anthony Smith said in a blog post<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mortgage rates are also indirectly\u00a0influenced<\/a> by the Federal Reserve’s interest rate decisions, which impact the broader lending environment. The central bank doesn’t set mortgage rates, but its decisions to raise or lower its short-term rate are watched closely by bond investors and can affect the yield on 10-year Treasury.<\/p>\n

The Fed decided this week to hold rates steady<\/a>\u00a0as it assesses the impact of the Iran war, while also signaling that it could move to lower rates at least once this year.<\/p>\n

However, some Wall Street\u00a0analysts<\/a> have cast doubt on that. EY-Parthenon chief economist Gregory Daco said in a report that it’s “entirely plausible that the Fed won’t deliver any rate cuts this year.”<\/p>\n

\n Edited by<\/p>\n

Alain Sherter<\/a>\n <\/p>\n

\n

The Associated Press<\/p>\n

contributed to this report.\n <\/p>\n

\n More from CBS News\n <\/p>\n

\n Go deeper with The Free Press\n <\/p>\n

In:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mortgage rates in the U.S. jumped this week to the highest level in three months, as the Iran…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":534394,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[7177,28,101,2402,5412],"class_list":["post-534393","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-affordable-housing","tag-business","tag-economy","tag-inflation","tag-mortgage-rates"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534393","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=534393"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534393\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/534394"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=534393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=534393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=534393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}