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# Home sales surge to the year’s fastest pace as mortgage rates climb back above 6.5 percent
- URL: https://www.consumernews.ai/home-sales-surge-to-the-years-fastest/
- Published: 2026-06-10T13:36:34.000Z
- Updated: 2026-06-19T19:15:21.000Z
- Author: James R. Hood
- Tags: Money

Against every macro headwind, the housing market staged a small rebellion in May. Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes rose 3.2 percent from April to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.17 million units, the fastest pace since December and a 3.2 percent gain from May of last year, [the Associated Press reported](https://apnews.com/article/home-sales-mortgages-inflation-interest-rates-9506d4ce03c10220785326c7d592875b?ref=consumernews.ai).

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[The Wall Street Journal](https://www.wsj.com/economy/housing/may-home-sales-notched-their-biggest-rise-this-year-bd192cf1?ref=consumernews.ai) called it “the biggest rise this year.” The median sales price ticked up 1.3 percent from a year earlier to $429,300.

The rebound came in the teeth of rising rates. The national average 30-year fixed mortgage stood at 6.57 percent Tuesday, up 3 basis points from Monday and 3 basis points from a week earlier, with the 15-year fixed at 5.94 percent and the 5/1 ARM at 5.81 percent, [The Wall Street Journal reported](https://www.wsj.com/buyside/personal-finance/mortgage/mortgage-rates-today-6-9-2026?ref=consumernews.ai). The 30-year jumbo rate jumped 8 basis points in a single day to 6.74 percent.

Refinance rates were higher still, with the 30-year refi at 6.72 percent. Freddie Mac data show the 30-year fixed briefly dipped below 6 percent in late February before climbing back to roughly 6.5 percent by early April, [CBS News reported](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/what-will-happen-home-prices-mortgage-rates-stay-high-experts/?ref=consumernews.ai), and has hovered there since.

### No slippage expected

Fannie Mae, which had forecast earlier this year that rates would slip back below 6 percent by year-end, now expects them to remain above 6 percent for the remainder of 2026, [The Wall Street Journal reported](https://www.wsj.com/buyside/personal-finance/mortgage/mortgage-rates-today-6-9-2026?ref=consumernews.ai). With a CPI print likely to spook the rate market further and the Fed widely expected to hold its benchmark steady at its meeting later this month, the path back to a 5-handle on 30-year rates has gotten longer, not shorter.

Bloomberg has scheduled a Thursday live event titled “What Could Jumpstart the US Housing Market?” — a question many buyers and sellers are asking. The Tuesday data answered some of it: pent-up demand from a slump that began in 2022 is now strong enough to absorb six-and-a-half-percent mortgages.

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