Mortgage and refinance interest rates today, June 14, 2025: Stepping higher as international tensions roil markets
Mortgage rates took a small step higher today. According to Zillow, today's 30-year fixed mortgage rate edged higher by four basis points to 6.72%, and the 15-year fixed rate also moved up four basis points to 5.96%.
Israeli strikes on Iran rattled Wall Street Friday, leaving the stock and bond markets behind as investors piled into oil and gold. The 10-year Treasury yield gained more than 1.5% as prices fell. Thankfully, the weekend will give traders time to reset their strategies and prepare for next week's uncertainty. The Federal Reserve will also be on the agenda. President Trump's pressuring of the Fed to cut rates will no doubt grow in fervor.
Read more: What determines mortgage rates? It's complicated.
Here are the current mortgage rates, according to the latest Zillow data:
30-year fixed: 6.73%
20-year fixed: 6.36%
15-year fixed: 5.96%
5/1 ARM: 7.01%
7/1 ARM: 6.47%
30-year VA: 6.31%
15-year VA: 5.75%
5/1 VA: 6.36%
Remember, these are the national averages and rounded to the nearest hundredth.
Learn more: 8 strategies for getting the lowest mortgage rates
These are today's mortgage refinance rates, according to the latest Zillow data:
30-year fixed: 6.80%
20-year fixed: 6.34%
15-year fixed: 5.96%
5/1 ARM: 7.24%
7/1 ARM: 7.13%
30-year VA: 6.22%
15-year VA: 5.88%
5/1 VA: 7.24%
Again, the numbers provided are national averages rounded to the nearest hundredth. Mortgage refinance rates are often higher than rates when you buy a house, although that's not always the case.
Use the mortgage calculator below to see how today's interest rates would affect your monthly mortgage payments.
For a deeper dive, you can use Yahoo's free mortgage calculator to see how homeowners insurance and property taxes factor into in your monthly payment estimate. You even have the option to enter costs for private mortgage insurance (PMI) and homeowners' association dues if those apply to you. These details result in a more accurate monthly payment estimate than if you simply calculated your mortgage principal and interest.
There are two main advantages to a 30-year fixed mortgage: Your payments are lower, and your monthly payments are predictable.
A 30-year fixed-rate mortgage has relatively low monthly payments because you're spreading your repayment out over a longer period of time than with, say, a 15-year mortgage. Your payments are predictable because, unlike with an adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM), your rate isn't going to change from year to year. Most years, the only things that might affect your monthly payment are any changes to your homeowners insurance or property taxes.
The main disadvantage to 30-year fixed mortgage rates is mortgage interest — both in the short and long term.
A 30-year fixed term comes with a higher rate than a shorter fixed term, and it's higher than the intro rate to a 30-year ARM. The higher your rate, the higher your monthly payment. You'll also pay much more in interest over the life of your loan due to both the higher rate and the longer term.
The pros and cons of 15-year fixed mortgage rates are basically swapped from the 30-year rates. Yes, your monthly payments will still be predictable, but another advantage is that shorter terms come with lower interest rates. Not to mention, you'll pay off your mortgage 15 years sooner. So you'll save potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars in interest over the course of your loan.
However, because you're paying off the same amount in half the time, your monthly payments will be higher than if you choose a 30-year term.
Dig deeper: 15-year vs. 30-year mortgages
Adjustable-rate mortgages lock in your rate for a predetermined amount of time, then change it periodically. For example, with a 5/1 ARM, your rate stays the same for the first five years and then goes up or down once per year for the remaining 25 years.
The main advantage is that the introductory rate is usually lower than what you'll get with a 30-year fixed rate, so your monthly payments will be lower. (Current average rates don't necessarily reflect this, though — in some cases, fixed rates are actually lower. Talk to your lender before deciding between a fixed or adjustable rate.)
With an ARM, you have no idea what mortgage rates will be like once the intro-rate period ends, so you risk your rate increasing later. This could ultimately end up costing more, and your monthly payments are unpredictable from year to year.
But if you plan to move before the intro-rate period is over, you could reap the benefits of a low rate without risking a rate increase down the road.
Learn more: Adjustable-rate vs. fixed-rate mortgage
First of all, now is a relatively good time to buy a house compared to a couple of years ago. Home prices aren't spiking like they were during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. So, if you want or need to buy a house soon, you should feel pretty good about the current housing market.
However, mortgage rates are unpredictable right now due to the political and economic climate. Experts don't think rates will plummet in 2025, so you might not want to base your decision on whether to buy strictly on interest rates. Recent news that home price gains are slowing, with predictions that house values may actually ease lower this year, can be part of your home buying decision.
The best time to buy is typically whenever it makes sense for your stage of life. Trying to time the real estate market can be as futile as timing the stock market — buy when it's the right time for you.
Read more: Which is more important, your home price or mortgage rate?
Have questions about buying, owning, or selling a house? Submit your question to Yahoo's panel of Realtors using this Google form.
According to Zillow, the national average 30-year mortgage rate is 6.72% right now. But keep in mind that averages can vary depending on where you live. For example, if you're buying in a city with a high cost of living, rates could be higher.
Overall, mortgage rates are expected to remain mostly steady in 2025. They probably won't drop significantly anytime soon.
Mortgage rates crawled a little higher today, but are lower than where they were when they last peaked in mid-January.
In many ways, securing a low mortgage refinance rate is similar to when you bought your home. Try to improve your credit score and lower your debt-to-income ratio (DTI). Refinancing into a shorter term will also land you a lower rate, though your monthly mortgage payments will be higher.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Miami Herald
an hour ago
- Miami Herald
Everyone should keep an eye on this Persian Gulf island
Kharg Island is a small island in the Persian Gulf. It lies 16 miles off the northwest coast of Iran. It's 451 miles from Tehran, Iran's capital - roughly the distance from Detroit to New York City. It is just five miles long, about 40% the size of New York's Manhattan Island. And 125 from Iran's border with Iraq. Don't miss the move: Subscribe to TheStreet's free daily newsletter It is also unique in the Persian Gulf. The island's limestone foundation allows it the luxury of fresh water reserves. Most importantly it also is the key port that exports Iranian crude oil. About 90% of Iran's oil exports flow through Kharg's terminal complex. And about a third of those exports go to China. Related: Stock Market Today: Attacks in Middle East Batter Stocks; Oil and Gold soar; Bitcoin Off Kharg could prove to be one of two key strategic places if the Israeli-Iran War (let's call it that for now) spins out of control. The other is the Strait of Hormuz, 21 miles wide at its narrowest, same as the English Channel. About a third of the world's liquified natural gas and 25% of its crude oil must pass through the strait to pass from the 615-mile Persian Gulf to reach buyers in Europe, Asia and elsewhere. Giant oil tankers with oil and natural gas from Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Oman and Abu Dhabi, Qatar and Bahrain flow though the strait Iran is the northern side of the strait, Oman on the southern. For years, whenever there's a conflict involving Iran, there are fears the country might block the strait. The importance of Kharg and the Strait of Hormuz helps explain why crude oil prices shot up as much as 14% late Thursday on the very first reports of Israel's attack on Iranian military and nuclear facilities. Related: Tesla makes a desperate move as it continues to lose customers Ultimately, West Texas Intermediate, the benchmark U.S. crude closed Friday up 7% to $71.29, and Brent, the benchmark global crude, was up the same amount to $74.23. If the worst of the conflict scenarios come to pass - Kharg's terminals and the strait are shut down, all bets are off on oil prices and, by extension, natural gas and gasoline prices. Kharg's terminal were blown up during the Iraq-Iran War of 1980-1988. If it happened again, Reuters reported, some analysts were suggesting crude prices could top $120 a barrel or higher, which would send gasoline prices much higher, maybe up to the top U.S. average price of $5.22 a gallon in May 2022. Global economies would be disrupted, and inflation would almost certainly jump. AAA's daily U.S. average gasoline price was up a penny to $3.133 a gallon on Saturday. The price is up just 3.1% so far in 2025.U.S. oil and gas stocks jumped on the Israeli-Iran news Friday. The Energy Sector of the Standard & Poor's 500 Index was alone among the 11 sectors of the index to post a gain for the day. Related: Starbucks CEO admits the struggling chain made a major mistake The Energy Select Sector SPDR exchange-traded fund (XLE) , which matches the index's Energy Sector, was up 1.7%. Oil services giant Halliburton (HAL) was up 5.5%. APA Corp. (APA) , parent of oil-and-gas producer Apache, was up 5.3%. The S&P 500 was down 1.13%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, down as many as 887 points in the afternoon, finished with a 700-point loss, or 1.8%, to 42,198. The major stock indexes - Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq Composite, Nasdaq-100 and Russell 2000 - all finished lower on the week. More Economic Analysis: Hedge-fund manager sees U.S. becoming GreeceA critical industry is slamming the economyReports may show whether the economy is toughing out the tariffs That said, many analysts do not believe things will get that out of hand. Similar worries about Kharg and the Strait of Hormuz have generated similar worries and price projections. But, in a note on Friday, Amarpreet Singh, an analyst with Barclay's, said "cool heads have prevailed." Moreover, as Ian Bremmer, president of the Eurasia Group, a consulting firm that watches matters like these, thinks Iran has few cards to play in this conflict. Israeli intelligence capabilities are just too capable, he said on a podcast, and Iran's military capacity has been diminished substantially by the attacks this week. Still, attention must be paid. Most definitely. Related: Veteran fund manager issues dire stock market warning The Arena Media Brands, LLC THESTREET is a registered trademark of TheStreet, Inc.
Wall Street Journal
an hour ago
- Wall Street Journal
Trump Disclosure Shows $57 Million in Earnings From Early Crypto Push
President Trump earned around $57 million from his stake in a family-backed cryptocurrency firm last year, according to a new financial disclosure form, showing the early returns on a burgeoning digital-asset empire. Trump's annual financial disclosure, released by the Office of Government Ethics, reveals his vast and varied income streams and holdings, covering everything from golf resorts to merchandising deals to stock investments in such companies as Apple and Berkshire Hathaway.
New York Post
2 hours ago
- New York Post
The Israel-Iran conflict is shaking the markets — but nervous investors aren't panicking
Wall Street's myopia was on full display in the immediate aftermath of the Israeli airstrikes against Iran. Many of us were worried about the possibility of World War III as we saw the attacks almost in real time Thursday night. Many of my sources were trying to gauge impacts on the Dow, oil prices and interest rates. Advertisement You can make a good case that there is a place for such shortsightedness. Leave the far-reaching geopolitical analysis to those who are better equipped to game-plan those outcomes, and the investor class should stay in its lane. People still have to save for retirement, invest those savings, even if the Middle East is imploding. Advertisement That said, the Wall Street take on the contretemps is certainly worth dissecting. You can glean, if you look through the conflict's short-term impact on specific pieces of economic data and push the smart money on their meaning, some interesting broader conclusions about how the Israel-Iran conflict will ultimately shake out. The market's top-line response was muddled. Stocks initially sold off sharply, then came back only to tank into the close as Iran retaliated against Tel Aviv. Advertisement Oil prices — which are always sensitive to conflicts in the Middle East — jumped about 7%. But we've all seen worse on less existentially serious stuff. The Dow closed down less than 800 points; the rollout of the Trump tariff plan — before Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent began putting the old genie back in the bottle to prevent an economic meltdown — saw far more wild moves in all sorts of investments. When the trade war was raging, bond prices at one point tanked so much, you would think we were on the verge of the apocalypse. Advertisement On Friday, the 10-year bond yield rose but is still below 4.5%, meaning people weren't rushing to the safe haven of Treasuries to plan for the worst. Gold rallied, but it's been running hot for weeks amid the fears of tariff-induced inflation. Not panicking In other words, it seems like investors are nervous, but also they're not panicking because something good could follow something scary. Namely, Israel neutered not just a foe that is developing nukes and threatening its destruction. It also has degraded the world's most aggressively belligerent nation — the leading state sponsor of terrorism — by decapitating much of Iran's military leadership, key scientists that were on the verge of developing nukes, as well as large swaths of its armed forces. In saving itself, Israel did us all a favor — even the Arab world, much of which abhors Iran's destabilizing militarism. For investors, it could mean at the very least lower energy prices in the future. Rich Arab countries finally might agree to recognize Israel, and the investment opportunities that will bring. Advertisement I know saying the conflict could be long-term good for the markets sounds ignorant given what's at stake. But life isn't mostly binary. Fortunately in this case, what's good for stocks could be good for the world. Of course, one day in the market is just one day. Advertisement So much more will happen. Israel says it's not done with its military action. Iran retaliated, landing missiles in the heart of Tel Aviv after a first wave of deadly drones was largely swatted away by Israel's defenses. Advertisement I have family in Israel so I pray for their safety as I've done almost every day since Oct. 7. US military installations could be attacked. But some of my trading desk sources are pointing out that Israel seems to have its game plan down pretty solid, and the Iranian attack against us would be foolish since it already has its hands full. The Israelis knew who to take out — the generals and scientists — and it clearly knew how Iran could respond. It has already largely eliminated Iran's proxies, Hezbollah and Hamas. Advertisement Notice how Israel didn't take out Iran's oil infrastructure, at least not yet. If it did, oil prices would be higher and markets far more volatile. And maybe Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is betting on the Iranian people. I've never been to Iran, but I know plenty of Iranian Americans. They tell me the country is largely secular, run by a fanatical minority that Israel might be weakening significantly. This could be the push for regime change that we've been talking about for years. Trump kept in the loop President Trump here has been at his best, my Wall Street sources remind me, another reason they're not panic-selling. Israel kept him in the loop. He alerted the world that the attacks would happen Thursday. He then began distancing himself and our country from the direct conflict, while prodding Iran to get back to the negotiating table and end its nukes program. Who knows, they might finally listen. Wall Street is always looking for 'black swan' events — stuff most people don't see that could lead to catastrophic market results. Wars are terrible. It would be great if Iran chose peace, but maybe eliminating it as a threat to Israel and a lot more is a black swan that produces some long-term peace and prosperity. Let's hope so and pray for the peace dividend it should deliver.
