Mortgage
The Monthly Payment on a Typical Listed Home Is $2,322, $224 More Than a Year Ago
By Real Estate Wire Staff, . Real Estate Wire.
The 30-year fixed mortgage rate averaged 7.40% in the week ending October 15, according to Freddie Mac's weekly survey, level with 7.40% the week before and up from 6.27% a year earlier. The 15-year rate averaged 6.71%.
Put that rate against the median asking price of a U.S. listing, $419,250 in September according to Realtor.com, and a buyer with 20% down borrows $335,400. The monthly principal and interest on that loan comes to **$2,322**. A year ago the same purchase, at $425,000 and 6.27%, cost $2,098 a month, so the payment has risen $224, or 10.7%.
The split matters for anyone pricing a listing. Asking prices fell 1.4% over the year, but at today's rate even last year's median price would cost $2,354 a month. The rate, not the price, is doing most of the work.
The numbers
| Now | A year ago | Change | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30-year fixed rate | 7.40% | 6.27% | +1.13 pts |
| Median listing price (September) | $419,250 | $425,000 | -1.4% |
| Monthly principal and interest, 20% down | $2,322 | $2,098 | +$224 |
| Active listings | 1,161,615 | 1,102,006 | +5.4% |
| New listings | 394,830 | 397,428 | -0.7% |
| Listings with a price cut that month | 407,028 | 387,166 | +5.1% |
| Median days on market | 61 | 62 | -1 |
*The payment is principal and interest on a 30-year fixed loan for 80% of the median listing price, before taxes, insurance and mortgage insurance. Listing figures are national monthly numbers for September 2026.*
What buyers are walking into
There are 1,161,615 homes for sale nationally, 5.4% more than a year ago, and 407,028 listings had their price cut during September, 5.1% more than a year earlier. The typical listing has sat for 61 days, against 62 a year ago.
Real Estate Wire publishes this reading every Friday. Rate data is from Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey and listing data from the Realtor.com residential listings database, both via the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. The payment figures are Real Estate Wire's own calculation and may be cited with a link to this page.