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# How to Buy Your First Home When Mortgage Rates Are at 2026 Highs
- URL: https://www.mortgagemomradio.com/how-to-buy-your-first-home-when-mortgage-rates-are-at-2026-highs/
- Published: 2026-07-22T22:05:02.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-02T00:00:04.000Z
- Description: Mortgage rates just hit their highest levels of 2026 — Freddie Mac at 6.55%, Mortgage News Daily at 6.75%. Debbie breaks down the three drivers behind the jump, why this is the new normal, and the credit-first game plan that made first-time buyers 33% of June's closings.
- Author: Deborah Marcoux
- Tags: Podcast, Mortgage Mom Radio, #episode-backfill

Mortgage Mom Radio • “Mortgage Rates Just Hit 2026 Highs — What Happened & What Buyers Do Now” — live show from Wednesday, July 22, 2026 • 42 minutes • Hosted by Debbie Marcoux, NMLS #237926

Mortgage rates just hit their highest levels of 2026 — Freddie Mac's 30-year at 6.55%, Mortgage News Daily's tracker at 6.75%, the highest in nearly a year. In this episode, Debbie breaks down the three things that pushed rates up, why she believes this is the new normal rather than a blip, and — the part that matters most — the step-by-step game plan that made first-time buyers a full third of June's closings even with affordability slipping for a fifth straight month.

## Key takeaways

- **Rates hit 2026 highs:** Freddie Mac's 30-year reached 6.55% (up from 6.49% the week before) and Mortgage News Daily's tracker showed 6.75% — the highest in about 52 weeks.
- **Three drivers pushed rates up:** oil jumping from about $68 to $88 a barrel on Middle East tensions, concerns about more Treasury issuance after a tariff-related Supreme Court ruling, and Fed Chair Kevin Warsh's warning that the FOMC “will not tolerate” persistent inflation ahead of the July 28–29 Fed meeting.
- **The bond market broke through its ceiling.** Debbie's read: today's rates are the new floor and the new normal — plan around them instead of waiting, because she doesn't expect meaningful relief in the next 3–6 months.
- **Affordability has slipped five straight months — yet 33% of home purchases that closed in June 2026 were first-time buyers.** It's still being done, with a plan.
- **The plan starts with credit.** A soft credit check (no hard pull, no automated decision) shows scores, debts, and payment history; most lenders want at least 580 for FHA, and a higher score means a better rate — which is how you fight affordability.
- **Budget the whole move, not just the down payment.** Down payment assistance doesn't cover utility deposits, the moving van, boxes, or restocking the fridge and pantry (easily $300–500), and you should still have savings left for surprises after you get the keys.
- **“You need a plan to execute a plan.”** Debbie's team puts every buyer on scheduled accountability check-ins — weekly if that's what it takes — because waiting for a better job, more savings, or better credit “is never going to happen” on its own.

## Chapters

- 02:24Rates hit their 2026 highs — what today covers
- 04:54The numbers: Freddie Mac 6.55%, Mortgage News Daily 6.75%
- 06:21Affordability slips a fifth straight month
- 08:57Driver #1: oil jumps from $68 to $88 a barrel
- 09:58Driver #2: more Treasury issuance; the 10-year at 4.628%
- 11:07Driver #3: Warsh's inflation warning and next week's Fed meeting
- 13:11The bond market breaks through its ceiling
- 15:10Why this is the new normal
- 17:1733% of June's buyers were first-timers
- 18:28The “great lock-in”: accountability goes viral
- 20:18Step 1: credit — the be-all, end-all first step
- 21:07Step 2: debt-to-income, income, and down payment
- 29:34Down payment assistance — and what it doesn't cover
- 34:09The true budget: moving costs nobody plans for
- 37:06The accountability train, and wrap-up

## This week's numbers (week of July 22, 2026 — averages, not quotes)

- Freddie Mac 30-year fixed: **6.55%**, up from 6.49% the week before — and Debbie's read from live client pricing is a touch higher still
- Mortgage News Daily 30-year tracker: **6.75%** — the highest level in nearly a year
- 15-year fixed: **5.93%**
- FHA about **6.32%**; VA about **6.34%**; jumbo about **6.875%**
- 10-year Treasury yield: **4.628%** — the largest two-day jump since July 8
- Oil: from about **$68 to $88** a barrel over roughly two weeks

*Your rate depends on FICO score, property type, loan balance, and loan purpose. These are national conforming averages for context, not a quote.*

### Ready to build your own home-buying game plan?

Call or text [844-935-3634](tel:8449353634) (844-WE-LEND-4), [start an application](https://www.mortgagemomradio.com/apply/) (soft credit check only), or run your numbers with the [mortgage calculators](https://www.mortgagemomradio.com/tools/). Get the weekly rate rundown in the [newsletter](https://www.mortgagemomradio.com/newsletter/).

Full transcript (lightly edited for clarity) 

*Auto-generated captions cleaned for readability. Sponsor messages, commercial breaks, and repeated housekeeping have been trimmed; licensing information appears at the bottom of this page. This episode was sponsored by Vera Nelson of Hythe Realty, Pasadena.*

### Rates just hit their 2026 highs

Welcome to Mortgage Mom Radio. I'm Debbie Marcoux, the Mortgage Mom — and I'm sorry I'm a couple of minutes late. We actually started the show, but YouTube was not picking up what we were throwing down, so here we go with a brand-new one.

What are we talking about? Interest rates have hit their highs of 2026, and we're at about the highest levels we've had in 52 weeks. Today's show covers what happened, how we got here — and then how we still get first-time buyers and home shoppers into new properties. Because it *is* happening: about 33% of all purchases that closed in June were first-time buyers. So for the grandparents, aunts, uncles, and parents of the younger generation who needs to buy that first home — or if you've never bought and your retirement plan is to move to another state and buy — this is a great episode for you.

### The numbers — and why “average” matters

If you've been watching rates hoping for that summer dip, this week did the opposite. Freddie Mac's 30-year hit 6.55%, up from 6.49% last week — and personally, running rates for clients, I'd say we're up a little more than that. The Mortgage News Daily tracker shows 6.75% as of today, the highest level in nearly a year. The 15-year is at 5.93%, FHA is about 6.32%, VA about 6.34%, and jumbo about 6.875%.

Now, these are not the rates every single person gets. Your rate is determined by your credit score, the type of property you're buying, your down payment — or if you're refinancing, how much equity you have and whether you're pulling out cash or just refinancing your current balance. These are averages to give you a basis for where we are today.

Affordability just slipped for a fifth straight month. Think back to January and February: if you'd worked with me in the past at higher rates, you probably got an email or a text from me saying we should look into a refinance. Many of my clients took advantage, and they're now sitting in the high fives and low sixes instead of the sevens and seven-and-a-halves. The clients who said “we think rates will keep going down, we'll wait a little longer” have missed that opportunity — at least for right now. Do I think it comes back around? I do. Do I think it's in the next three to six months? I don't. I think it will be a bit longer before we see rates come down further.

### What pushed rates up: three drivers

Number one: rising fuel prices, tied of course to the Middle East tensions. We've seen oil jump over the last couple of weeks from about $68 to $88 a barrel. Oil and mortgage rates aren't directly correlated, but many times as oil goes up, rates follow — and vice versa. When prices at the pump start easing, that's a good cue to check where mortgage rates are, because there's a good chance they've come down too.

Number two: concerns about more Treasury issuance after a tariff-related Supreme Court ruling. More bonds being issued and sold off means the price per bond gets cheaper — they're worth less — and when bonds are worth less, interest rates go up. The 10-year Treasury yield jumped to 4.628% as of yesterday, the largest two-day jump since July 8, and I believe it moved a little more today.

Number three: Fed Chair Kevin Warsh coming out and saying the FOMC will not tolerate persistent inflation. A couple of weeks back he very much alluded to the possibility of a rate increase at the next meeting — and that next meeting is next Tuesday and Wednesday. Wednesday afternoon, right before I do my show, we'll find out whether they raise, hold, or cut. There are plenty of economists saying there's absolutely no way they'll increase, and plenty of people gambling that there's a very good chance they will. So next week is going to be a big piece.

And remember what I've explained many times: the mortgage market is not directly connected to the Federal Reserve prime rate. Prime drives your credit cards, short-term loans, and home equity lines of credit. Mortgage rates are tied to mortgage bonds, notes, and securities. Indirectly, yes, it all connects — as things move in the economy, mortgage rates move too — but the Fed doesn't set your mortgage rate.

### We broke through the ceiling — this is the new normal

We've also pushed through a ceiling in the bond market. If you follow candlesticks at all, you know markets bounce between a ceiling and a floor — rates go up, up, up, hit the barrier, come back down; try again, bounce off again. Well, we have finally pushed through that barrier. When you break through a barrier and create a new floor or ceiling, things can move rapidly and get away from us.

Now, I'm not talking about rates jumping a whole point overnight — that didn't happen. We move in increments: we're up probably a quarter, maybe three-eighths of a percent from where we were two weeks ago. But once you break through a barrier, it's really, really difficult to get back on the other side of it. So I believe the rates you see today are our new floor and our new normal — and they could even go a bit higher before things calm down. The best thing you can do is accept that where we are is pretty much the new normal, get right with it, and work on what we do from here: how do we still buy a home, and how do we make affordability a little better?

### 33% of June's buyers were first-timers — the “great lock-in”

Believe it or not, 33% of all home purchases that closed in June 2026 — just last month — were first-time buyers. As a mother of Gen Z kids — they're 25 and 21, with girlfriends, about ready to leave the nest — I worry like many others: will my kids have the opportunity to buy a home? It's a valid concern. So how are these first-time buyers making it happen?

It starts with taking accountability and control of the plan. There's been a hot trend on Instagram and TikTok, especially since late last year, called *locking in* — the “great lock-in.” Whether it's their health, career, finances, or buying a home, people pick a goal and hold themselves accountable for the daily actions that move it forward. Right now you're seeing a lot of it from young people who want to buy homes — posting every day about what they did to get one step closer to homeownership. Some of them have actually done it: sitting in an empty, vacant house with brand-new keys, proof that they made it. I absolutely love it — I've been talking about this plan since I started this show back in 2016\. And here's the core of it: the creators who succeeded made a plan, and they made it by calling somebody and finding out what they needed to do.

### Step one: credit

The very first place to start is credit. That is the ultimate be-all, end-all first step. Start with the loan application at mortgagemomradio.com — it does a *soft* credit check. It does not automatically pull hard credit, and it does not render an automated decision where you get declined before you've even talked to us. It's simply a secure way to get us what we need to see: your monthly debts, your payment history, and your credit scores.

Most mortgage lenders want to see a credit score of at least 580 to get into an FHA loan. The higher the score, the better the interest rate — and the better the rate, the more you can afford. That is how we help you with the affordability piece: we get your score as high as possible. The first conversation is about what to pay down for a quick lift in the score, or what to pay down to help you afford more. And if you have no credit at all? We'll talk about how to get credit — where to start, which accounts to open and why — because trying to open new credit from zero can be very intimidating.

### Step two: debt-to-income, income, and the down payment

Step two is debt-to-income ratio and income, because that flows into what you should realistically be window-shopping for. We all have the grand plan of the single-family home with the white picket fence, three bedrooms and two baths — but the first step might have to be a condo, a townhome, or a really small two-bedroom house.

So we talk about your income, your monthly debts, and your down payment. How much do you have saved? Could a 401(k) help with the down payment? Do we need to look into down payment assistance, and how does that work? And it all loops together: we can qualify you for $400,000 but you'd really like to buy at $500,000? Okay — back to the credit report. If you get X, Y, and Z paid off, you'll qualify for your $500,000\. It all works into one game plan — but we need the application first so we have all the pieces to talk about.

Sometimes it's as simple as reviewing the bank statements together and looking at the daily spending: Starbucks, Starbucks, Starbucks, McDonald's, sushi, Jimmy John's, Jersey Mike's, Carl's Jr. — the club, the bar on Friday night. We'll talk about where to cut back and how much we expect each week to go toward either a payoff we've assigned or the savings account.

### The true budget — down payment assistance won't cover this

Down payment assistance is only going to help with the down payment. Sometimes it partially helps with closing costs, and sometimes we can get you in with nothing out of pocket — assistance for the down and a seller credit for the closing costs. But even then, you still need to budget for the move itself, and a lot of people don't think about that: the deposits to get the utilities turned on, the U-Haul if you don't have a friend with a truck, the boxes and the packing tape — and refilling the refrigerator and pantry. Moms and dads, you know: when you move, half-open and expired stuff gets tossed, and restocking can be $300, $400, $500, sometimes more.

So we sit down and build a true budget: how much you need at the moment you're ready to execute the plan and write an offer, and how much we want left in savings just in case — something breaks in the house, or the car surprises you with a repair right after you get the keys. We do not want to set you up to fail.

### The accountability train

Reach out however you're comfortable — text us, email us, or put the application in on the website — and we'll get you on the calendar. But here's the piece that makes it work: when you talk to me, or Manny, or Mikey, or Heather, you're going to be held accountable. Every call ends with the next appointment booked, just like the doctor or the dentist, on a time frame based on you. Got a few things to clean up on the credit report? We might set the next call two weeks out, or a month if there's saving to do first. And if you tell us, “I want this, but if I don't have to check in with you every week, I just won't do it” — then we put you on the calendar once a week, every week: did you do what we told you to do? How far did you get? You got that letter we told you to get? Awesome — here's step two.

We are going to hold you accountable, get you on the game plan, and get you into a home. And trust me, it is absolutely doable. We know rates are high and home values are high — and we know it's possible anyway, because 33% of June's closings were first-time buyers. If you're waiting to call until you have a better job, more money in the bank, or a better credit score — guess what? It's never going to happen. You need a plan to execute a plan, and if you don't have a plan to execute, you will never get to the finish line.

### Wrap-up

So that's today's show in a nutshell: why interest rates are high, why we're planning to be stuck in this higher-rate zone for a while instead of banking on rates coming down soon, and how first-time buyers still get into a home — by creating a plan. If you want to know when I go live, text the word LIVE to 844-935-3634 — that's 844-WE-LEND-4\. The weekly newsletter is finally on a regular schedule — my team and I take turns making sure it gets out — and you can sign up on the website, where you can also watch the show live, submit questions for next week's episode, and use the calculators. I'll be back next Wednesday at 3 PM. Talk to you later. Bye-bye.

Debbie Marcoux is licensed by the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation under the California Residential Mortgage Lending Act, NMLS ID #237926, and additionally licensed in AZ (0941504), FL, GA, HI, ID, IL, NV, NC, OR, TN, TX, and WA. Rates and figures discussed were current as of the air date of July 22, 2026, reflect national conforming averages, and are not an offer of credit or a rate quote. Debbie Marcoux is not a financial advisor; consult qualified professionals about your individual situation.