On September 16 the FOMC lifted its target range to 3.75% to 4.00% on a unanimous vote, the first move since December. The 30-year average had already gone from 6.43% in early July to 6.76%. Here is what that means for a Miami purchase right now.
Freddie Mac's 30-year fixed average was 6.43% the week of July 2. By September 10 it was 6.76%, the highest reading of the summer and 41 basis points above the 6.35% of a year earlier. The 15-year sat at 6.09%. Every week in between is in the St. Louis Fed's MORTGAGE30US series, and the direction is one way: 6.49, 6.55, 6.58, 6.66, 6.69, 6.67, 6.65, 6.66, 6.71, 6.76.
The Federal Reserve held its target range at 3.50% to 3.75% on July 29. The vote was 9 to 3, and all three dissenters, Beth Hammack, Neel Kashkari and Lorie Logan, preferred to raise the range by a quarter point. The statement called economic activity “expanding at a solid pace” and said inflation “remains elevated relative to the Committee's 2 percent goal,” citing energy-driven supply shocks. That is not a committee warming up to cuts.
Then, on September 16, the committee did what the July dissenters wanted. It raised the target range by a quarter point to 3.75% to 4.00%, on a 12 to 0 vote, the first change since the December 2025 cut. The statement said inflation “remains elevated,” that “economic activity is expanding at a solid pace,” and that the move “will support a timelier return to the Committee's 2 percent goal.” The live strip below carries Freddie Mac's most recent weekly average and updates every Thursday, so the mortgage-market reaction will show up there first.
Waiting for a rate cut cost buyers a third of a point this summer, on top of whatever the property did. The Freddie Mac figure describes conforming loans with 20% down and excellent credit; a Miami jumbo or condo borrower will be quoted something else, so shop the loan. Sellers: a credible offer in hand at 6.7% is worth more than a hypothetical one at 6.0%. Buyers: negotiate price and seller-paid points instead of waiting on Washington. The Fed has now told you, in a unanimous vote, which direction it is comfortable with.
Taxes, insurance and the current 30-year average in one place.
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