Mortgage interest rates rose this week. The good news? The increase was smaller than in the previous two weeks, which saw steady upward momentum. The less-good news? The average hit a round number, which makes it feel like a bigger change than it was.
The average rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose three basis points to 7% the week ending Apr. 24, according to rates provided to NerdWallet by Zillow. A basis point is one one-hundredth of a percentage point.
Relatively stable mortgage interest rates make the market a little friendlier to home buyers. With many buyers’ budgets stretched to the limits, stable rates mean there’s a good chance that a home you can afford today will still be affordable tomorrow.
Home prices continue to stun
But that’s defining affordable as within your own budget. If you’re thinking of an affordable home as one with a low price, well, those are becoming as difficult to find as cheap eggs.
The median price of an existing single-family home sold in March 2025 was $408,000, according to data released today by the National Association of Realtors. That’s only a 2.9% increase from March 2024, but it’s a staggering 44% increase from March 2020. Even though the rate of increase has slowed, home prices in the U.S. have risen a massive amount in the past five years.
“In a stark contrast to the stock and bond markets, household wealth in residential real estate continues to reach new heights,” NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun noted in the press release accompanying the data. So people who bought homes back in 2020 are a lot like folks whose eggs come from their own backyard chickens: They’ve got an asset that keeps creating more value.
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A surprising bright spot
Today’s home buyer would do well to look at all their homebuying options, particularly new construction. In March, the median price of a new construction home was $403,600, per numbers released this week by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
You read that right: The median price of new homes sold in March was $4,400 less than the median price of existing homes. Tariffs could complicate the math on new construction, but for the moment it’s surprisingly competitive. In March, fully half of new homes sold for $399,999 or less, with 17% going for under $300,000.
These national numbers may not reflect trends in your local market, but it’s reassuring to know relative bargains can still be found.
