Reina Marszalek is a senior mortgage editor at Fox Money who has spent more than 10 years writing and editing content. Fox Money is a personal finance hub featuring content generated by Credible ...

The residential mortgage as we know it today is less than a century old. In fact, until the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) was established in 1934, only one in 10 Americans even owned a home.

Looking at the past four decades, the average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage peaked in 1981, rising just above 16%. The average 30-year fixed rate bottomed in 2021 at just under 3%. So far in 2025, ...