The decline comes after President Trump ordered his “representatives” to begin buying $200 billion worth of mortgage bonds, his latest push to lower costs for Americans grappling with the high cost of living.

The average interest rate for a 30-year fixed residential mortgage hit 5.99% on Friday, down from 6.21% on Thursday, according to data provider Mortgage News Daily.

That’s the lowest the 30-year average rate has been since February 2023.

As of Friday, rates for the average 30-year mortgage have now fallen more than 1% in the past year.

Interest rates for a 15-year fixed rate mortgage also dropped significantly on Friday, falling to 5.55%.

Mortgage rates typically rise and fall very slowly, by just tenths or even hundredths of a percent per day. So the latest moves are well out of the ordinary.

The sharp drops came after Trump wrote on Truth Social Thursday that he was “instructing my Representatives to BUY $200 BILLION DOLLARS IN MORTGAGE BONDS.”

“This will drive Mortgage Rates DOWN, monthly payments DOWN, and make the cost of owning a home more affordable,” Trump said in the post.

Federal Housing Finance Authority chief Bill Pulte later said in his own social media post that “Fannie [Mae] and Freddie [Mac] are the entities that will do the purchases.”

Indeed, Trump’s announcement alone brought rates down immediately. Pulte told reporters at the White House on Friday that he had already begun to execute on Trump's instructions. "We put in a $3 billion buy already," he said.

Story Date: January 12, 2026