Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
- Median U.S. mortgage payments hit a record $2,870 in April, Redfin reports.
- High mortgage rates and economic uncertainty deter potential buyers during peak season.
- Home sales decline as sellers offer incentives; buyers gain leverage with rising inventory.
SALT LAKE CITY — Monthly housing costs are higher than ever.
The median U.S. monthly mortgage payment reached a record $2,870 last month, thanks to continuing increases in home prices and high mortgage rates, according to new data from Redfin, the nation's largest brokerage website.
The increased cost of paying for a home, along with the economic uncertainty surrounding President Donald Trump's tariffs, are keeping many would-be buyers on the sidelines during what's supposed to be the busiest season for housing sales, Redfin said.
"A lot of people who would normally be making moves right now are standing still," a Redfin real estate agent in Seattle, Bliss Ong, said in a post Thursday. "They want to ride out this period of economic uncertainty and wait until they feel more secure to make this huge financial decision."
The typical payment for the four weeks that ended April 25 is 2.7% more than during the same period in 2024. It's based on the weekly average 30-year fixed rate of 6.81% reported April 24 by the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, better known as Freddie Mac.
The mortgage rate average fell this week to 6.76% as of Thursday. But the leader of Redfin's economic team, Chen Zhao, said mortgage rates "will move slightly higher " following Friday's release of a stronger than expected jobs report.
That report makes an anticipated June rate cut by the Federal Reserve "very unlikely," Zhao said, forecasting that "mortgage rates are likely to hover in the high 6's, close to 7%" for the foreseeable future.
By Friday afternoon, the Mortgage Rate Daily rate index was at 6.9% for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage.
"In general, good economic news is bad for rates — a fact that played out throughout today's trading session, ultimately resulting in many mortgage lenders issuing mid-day rate hikes," Mortgage Rate Daily's Matthew Graham wrote.
High mortgage rates were blamed for the 5.9% drop in sales of existing U.S. homes in March.
The seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.02 million existing home sales for March reported by the National Association of Realtors was the biggest monthly decline in sales in more than two years.
Redfin reported pending home sales were down 2.8% across the country in April, attributing the drop to when Easter was celebrated this year, but said even without the holiday, "pending sales would be flat from a year ago."
The company's new data shows the gap between what homes are listed at and what they ultimately sell for continues to widen.
In March, that gap was the biggest since 2020 but grew even larger last month. In April, the median sale price for a home in the U.S. was $388,475, more than $41,000 below the median asking price of $429,700, according to Redfin.
Buyers are being seen as having the upper hand right now as housing inventory rises and sales fall. Sellers are resorting to price cuts and added incentives, like buying down mortgage rates, to attract interest.
Ong said, "People who are buying are picky; for instance, buyers aren't making offers if a home is on a busy street, or if it has one bathroom instead of two bathrooms. When the market was hotter, those homes would fly off the shelves despite not checking every single box."
