Mortgage Rates Are All Over the Place—and That Could Be Good for Buyers

The typically busy spring season for the housing market was a dud, and the summer isn’t looking much brighter.

Housing services companies like Zillow Group and Rocket RKT +3.78% were loud and clear last week on earnings calls: Rocket CEO Varun Krishna called the quarter through June “one of the toughest spring housing markets in years.”

Jeremy Hofmann, Zillow’s chief financial officer, said on a conference call that the company predicted earlier this year that the market for mortgages would be flat. “We actually now think it’s going to be down low-to-mid-single digits,” he said.

The rest of 2026 will remain challenging for mortgage origination volume, says KBW analyst Bose George. The question now is what happens in 2027. “If mortgage rates remain [around] 6.75%, I think that’s going to be challenging even for next year,” he says.

But what’s bad news for mortgage companies could be a positive for bargain hunters. Buyers can expect prices to grow more slowly—or mildly decline—with less competition as long as mortgage rates remain unpredictable.

Mortgage rates at the beginning of the year were solidly below year-ago levels, notes Zillow senior economist Kara Ng. But they surpassed last year’s levels recently, she adds, referencing Freddie Mac’s weekly survey of 30-year fixed mortgage rates. Last week’s reading, at 6.69%, was higher than year-ago levels for the first time in 2026.

“From the affordability point of view, it’s going to get more challenging in the second half of the year,” she says. “And when affordability gets more challenging, that impacts sales and home price appreciation.”

Mortgage application data tracked by the Mortgage Bankers Association has cooled since the beginning of the year. The trade group expects that the number of mortgage originations in the remaining two quarters will lag behind last year’s levels, after exceeding 2025 levels in the first half.

Rocket’s early-stage data—which the company told Barron’s it derives from its brokerage Redfin, demand for its mortgage products, and signs in its servicing portfolio that a homeowner is preparing to refinance or move—“leads us to expect the third quarter mortgage market to be smaller than the second,” Chief Financial Officer Brian Brown, said on the company’s call. He added that such an occurrence is “something the industry has not seen since 2022.”

Prices will be about flat nationally, Ng says. Zillow’s most recent forecast, which shows how values are expected to change in the year ending June 2027, show them dropping in roughly half of the 100 largest U.S. metros for which data is available.

Buyers aren’t rushing in at a time when mortgage costs are rising and unpredictable. But those with the right combination of patience and cash could stand to benefit. “If you are financially qualified to buy a starter home, you are facing less competition and you’re more likely to get a price cut,” Ng says.

A landmark Watsons Bay residence formerly owned by businessman Mark Bouris has returned to the market, bringing one of the harbourside village’s most distinctive homes back into play.

The five-bedroom property at 23 Robertson Place occupies 654 square metres opposite Robertson Park, within footsteps of Watsons Bay Beach, the ferry wharf and the celebrated restaurants lining the foreshore.

Its position places the home at the centre of one of Sydney’s most recognisable harbour villages, yet its substantial proportions, private outdoor areas and garaging give it a degree of separation rarely found so close to the waterfront.

The residence was previously owned by Bouris, the founder of Wizard Home Loans and chairman of Yellow Brick Road. Property records show it last changed hands in November 2013 for $7 million, having sold for $890,000 in 1995.

That 2013 transaction was handled by prestige agent Bill Malouf through Highland Double Bay. Bouris was the vendor when the home last sold.

Architect Malcolm Sholl designed the contemporary residence around a fluid connection between its interiors and outdoor entertaining areas. Extensive glazing draws natural light into the principal rooms, while district views take in the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Travertine flooring extends through the principal living areas and out towards the terraces, reinforcing the relationship between the home and its coastal setting.

At the centre of the residence is a marble kitchen equipped with Gaggenau gas appliances and an integrated Miele coffee machine. It connects to expansive open-plan living and dining areas designed for both family life and large-scale entertaining.

Five double bedrooms are accompanied by three bathrooms and a guest powder room. Informal living spaces include a home cinema.

Outside, there’s a 23-metre lap pool and an alfresco entertainer’s terrace. Internal access from the garage and accommodation for four cars are especially valuable in the tightly held village location.

The address also carries an unusual fragment of local architectural history. Woollahra planning material identifies portions of an early Victorian cottage dating from about 1839 within the contemporary three-storey residence, placing the property within the wider Watsons Bay heritage conservation area.

The home made headlines for another reason in January 2025, when a Ferrari left the road and struck the property. Two occupants of the vehicle were taken to hospital following the incident.

The Agency’s Ben Collier has a $20 million guide.

Watsons Bay remains one of Sydney’s smallest and most tightly held prestige markets. There have only been two house sales in the suburb so far in 2026. The suburb record was set late last year when yachtie Linda Goddard paid $35.5 million for a Pacific Street waterfront.