A 'Hidden Force' Can Bring Mortgage Rates Down

Mortgage rates have been moving against home buyers in recent weeks. But there is a sliver of hope on the horizon.

- Telis Demos

Freddie Mac's benchmark national average 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage is nearing 7% once again, a far cry from when it looked like it was heading below 6% back in the early fall.

Several things have driven rates back up, including rising longterm Treasury yields, fears about accelerating inflation and a shrinking number of expected Federal Reserve rate cuts.

And it is unclear if any of those big factors will change in the near future, especially with swirling uncertainty about policies such as tariffs.

Yet there are reasons to be somewhat, cautiously, optimistic. One thing that could help fuel a move lower in rates-even without those big macroeconomic variables changing-would be a shift in what some have called the "hidden force" behind mortgage rates: The unusually wide gap between mortgage rates and Treasury yields.