The Federal Reserve's 50-basis-point rate cut from September 18 has started to push mortgage interest rates down, bringing a glimmer of hope to potential buyers. With two more Fed meetings scheduled before the end of 2024, we could see rates continue to fall.

If five years is a bit too long to tie up your cash, consider a 3-year CD. The highest-yielding 3-year CD we’ve found, also offered by Lafayette Federal Credit Union, has an APY of 4.52% and a minimum opening deposit of $500. If you put $5,000 in the account, after three years you’d have $5,709.11, earning $709.11 in interest.

Today’s interest rate for a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage is 5.125%, which is unchanged from yesterday. The monthly payment for a $250,000 mortgage with a 15-year term and a fixed interest rate of 5.5% would be $2,042.71. The payment for the same loan with a 6% interest rate would be $2,109.64.

In the first week of January, mortgage rates averaged around 6.62%, already elevated compared to historical norms. By late March, they had surged to 6.94%, and by the first week of May, they had reached their peak for the year at 7.22% — up by about 0.6% from the start of 2024.

These are today's mortgage and refinance rates. Mortgage rates dropped this month and remain substantially lower than they've been for most of 2024.