Finance

Mortgage and refinance rates today, March 4, 2025: Rates hold steady

Published

1 year ago

March 4, 2025

Some mortgage rates have decreased today while others have increased, but either way, the shifts are pretty minor. According to Zillow, the average 30-year fixed interest rate is down one basis point to 6.26%, and the 15-year fixed rate is up one basis point to 5.58%.

Interest rates have fallen for the last two weeks, and now that rates are holding steady, it could be a good time to start applying for preapproval with mortgage lenders.

Dig deeper: 2025 housing market — Is it a good time to buy a house?

Here are the current mortgage rates, according to our latest Zillow data:

30-year fixed: 6.26%
20-year fixed: 5.94%
15-year fixed: 5.58%
5/1 ARM: 6.15%
7/1 ARM: 6.21%
30-year VA: 5.72%
15-year VA: 5.24%
5/1 VA: 5.89%

Remember that these are the national averages and rounded to the nearest hundredth.

Read more: How to get the lowest mortgage rates possible

Have questions about buying, owning, or selling a house? Submit your question to Yahoo’s panel of Realtors using this Google form.

These are the current mortgage refinance rates, according to the latest Zillow data:

30-year fixed: 6.30%
20-year fixed: 5.92%
15-year fixed: 5.59%
5/1 ARM: 6.24%
7/1 ARM: 6.55%
30-year VA: 5.73%
15-year VA: 5.43%
5/1 VA: 5.91%
30-year FHA: 5.96%
15-year FHA: 5.24%

Again, the numbers provided are national averages rounded to the nearest hundredth. Refinance rates are usually higher than purchase rates.

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A mortgage calculator can help you see how various mortgage term lengths and interest rates will affect your monthly payments. Use the free Yahoo Finance mortgage calculator to play around with different outcomes.

Our calculator also considers factors like property taxes and homeowners insurance when calculating your estimated monthly mortgage payment. This gives you a better idea of your total monthly payment than if you just looked at mortgage principal and interest.

As a rule of thumb, 15-year mortgage rates are lower than 30-year mortgage rates. When comparing 15- versus 30-year mortgage rates, know that the shorter term will save you money on interest in the long run. However, your monthly payments will be higher because you’re paying off the same loan amount in half the time.

For example, with a $400,000 mortgage with a 30-year term and a 6.26% rate, you’ll make a monthly payment of about $2,465 toward your mortgage principal and interest. As interest accumulates over decades, you’ll end up paying $487,570 in interest.

If you get a $400,000 15-year mortgage with a 5.58% rate, you’ll pay about $3,285 monthly toward your principal and interest. However, you’ll only pay $191,361 in interest over the years.

If that 15-year mortgage monthly payment is too high, remember you can always make extra mortgage payments on your 30-year loan to pay off your mortgage faster and ultimately pay less interest.

With a fixed-rate mortgage, your rate is locked in from day one. However, you will get a new rate if you refinance your mortgage.

An adjustable-rate mortgage keeps your rate the same for a set period of time. Then the rate will go up or down depending on several factors, such as the economy and the maximum amount your rate can change according to your contract. For example, with a 7/1 ARM, your rate would be locked in for the first seven years, then change every year for the remainder of your term.

Adjustable rates sometimes start lower than fixed rates, but once the initial rate-lock period ends, you risk your interest rate going up. ARM rates have also been starting higher than fixed rates recently, so they’re not as good of a deal as usual.

Dig deeper: Adjustable-rate vs. fixed-rate mortgage — Which should you choose?

Mortgage rates have been decreasing for about two weeks, but they’re fairly stagnant today. Economists also don’t expect drastic drops before the end of 2025.

In 2024, mortgage rates trended downward from early August to the Sept. 18 Federal Reserve meeting, when the central bank announced a 50-basis-point slash to the federal funds rate. Since that announcement, mortgage rates have mostly increased or held steady.

The Fed decreased its rate again at its November and December meetings (by 25bps each time). The trajectory of future mortgage rates will largely depend on the Federal Reserve’s decision on whether or not to cut the federal funds rate at its 2025 meetings.

The Fed decided not to cut the fed funds rate at its Jan. 29 meeting. According to the CME FedWatch tool, there’s currently a 91% chance that the rate remains unchanged at the March meeting too. This means rates probably won’t significantly drop in the next couple of months.

Dig deeper: Understanding the Fed’s rate decisions — Do we want high or low interest rates?

According to Zillow data, today’s 30-year fixed rate for purchases is 6.26%, and the 30-year refinance rate is 6.30%. These are the national averages, so keep in mind the average in your state or city could be different. Your rate will also vary depending on your personal finances.

Mortgage rates will probably gradually drop throughout 2025, but they’re unlikely to plummet anytime soon.

Mortgage rates should go down in 2025, though probably not as drastically as many expected a few months ago. Any decreases may be relatively small depending on the economy, inflation, and the Fed.

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Finance

Aussie lawyer warns of ‘middle class’ family battles after budget introduces ‘backdoor death tax’

Published

3 hours ago

June 14, 2026

Press Room

Aussie lawyer warns of ‘middle class’ family battles after budget introduces ‘backdoor death tax’

Family lawyers could be among the professions kept extra busy after the budget tax changes pass. · Getty

Australians are expected to pass on trillions of dollars in assets in the coming years as the grey tsunami of wealthy baby boomers crashes across the economy. But some of those expecting the windfall could be more likely to find themselves in a potential dispute with their loved ones as tax changes introduced to trusts commonly used in estate planning increase the likelihood of conflict.

Lawyers who deal with contested wills and estates foresee issues of conflict more likely to arise if the proposed changes go ahead. Alun Hill is the national director of the contested estates division of Armstrong Legal and believes there will be more reasons for discontent and for wills to be challenged due to the increased tax take being slipped in.

“It widens the battleground,” he told Yahoo Finance. “It just creates more reason why there might be someone who wants to contest a will.”

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Under the changes in Labor’s controversial budget, the unprecedented 30 per cent minimum level of capital gains tax will apply to the most common form of estate planning trust, known as a the testamentary discretionary trust.

While the government says its legislation pertaining to tax changes for trusts will be brought before parliament later this year, the slated changes would come into effect from July 1, 2028, and only specifically exclude fixed testamentary trusts. Fixed trusts are different from discretionary trusts as trustees don’t have the discretion to change the proportion of income a beneficiary is entitled to.

“Discretionary trusts aren’t just used as a tax minimisation vehicle,” Hill said. “Traditionally they’ve been used to provide the trustee with the ability to do what’s necessary to carry out the intentions of the testator (the person who wrote the will).”

While the finer details remain to be seen, the new tax floor regardless of the income of beneficiaries and the overall higher CGT on assets, will mean beneficiaries will see less passed on than previously expected – and that can be grounds for a challenge.

“What this really does is create the potential for claims being made against the estate by the spouse or by whoever the intended beneficiary is, who is no longer receiving adequate provision or appropriate provision under the testamentary trust,” Hill said.

While tax accountants, financial planners and business and property valuers are all expected to be kept extremely busy due to the added complexity being introduced by Labor’s new tax regime, family lawyers might also need to be braced for more work in the years ahead.

RELATED: Baby boomers urged to rethink $4.9 trillion Gen Z inheritance trend

A bigger tax take for the government likely means more contested wills, Alun Hill says. · Getty

Hill believes that regular Australian families will likely be the ones mostly captured by the new rules while the wealthiest individuals will continue to find workarounds and exotic structures to minimise their tax.

“They’re already talking to their financial planners and their estate planners about what to do. There’s no doubt they’ll be the ones who find a way through,” he said of the wealthiest Australians.

“The ones who won’t are probably the middle class. People who leave an estate with one or two properties, some shares in a portfolio and some money in a term deposit – those are the ones who are probably not going to undergo complex estate planning.

“Unfortunately it means that what may result is the testator’s intentions may not be carried through for a multitude of reasons,” Hill claimed.

He gave an example of someone who has two children who they want to provide equally for. If they had $2 million in shares and $2 million in property and they decide to give one child the home and the other the shares, it’s likely the shares will be taxed more heavily.

“One child receives an asset class that is heavily taxed in the new system and they actually receive a lot less in their hand, so they’re going to feel they’ve been shorted, and they’re probably going to want to contest,” Hill said.

“Although the changes are drastic… [in these cases] it widens the potential battleground for wills and the categories of people who would otherwise not be thinking about claiming against an estate, because it just changes the nature and value of estates.”

So-called ‘death tax’ could accelerate ‘living inheritance’ trend

The expected changes have some in the industry expecting more retired Aussies to pass on their wealth while they’re still alive. Findex financial adviser Jonathan Scholes told Yahoo Finance he thinks it will accelerate the ‘living inheritance’ trend he is already seeing among clients.

“If that change goes through, I think it’s going to trigger every client, basically, who’s got some wealth behind them, reviewing their estate plan and saying: Is this something we do before we leave the planet or something we do after we leave the planet?” he said.

“And I think there’s going to be a lot of people that are going to start thinking about going; ‘let’s do it earlier’.”

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Finance

Man who built Guernsey finance charity retires

Published

14 hours ago

June 14, 2026

Press Room

Man who built Guernsey finance charity retires

A charity has announced its new chair following the retirement of its founder.

Peter Neville worked for more than five years to set up Guernsey Community Savings, which first opened its doors in September 2020 to support people who were not able to access mainstream banking, staff said.

Former banker James Ellis is taking over the role. Neville said: “James brings exactly the right blend of financial services experience, charitable involvement and community understanding.”

The charity had helped about 200 people, who would otherwise have been excluded from the financial system access, to accounts and linked debit cards, and offered money‑management guidance to many more, staff said.

Neville said: “The initiatives now being discussed, together with the additional features offered by the new money‑transmission platform, reassure me that James’s vision aligns perfectly with the aims we set in those early days.

“I wish the board and GCS staff every success as they take the charity forward.”

Ellis said: “‘The creation of Guernsey Community Savings in 2020 was only possible because of Peter’s unique set of qualities that enabled him to create a talented team and the structure to tackle the issues facing the financially excluded in our island.

“I was delighted when he asked me to continue with his work and further expand his vision, which I share, to provide help in the form of bank accounts, debit cards and financial education and to realise our ambition to provide grants and soft loans where needed.”

He added he was pleased Neville agreed to remain involved with the charity as life president.

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Hong Kong’s first 5-year plan to tackle economic gaps, boost jobs: Paul Chan

Published

24 hours ago

June 14, 2026

Press Room

Hong Kong’s first 5-year plan to tackle economic gaps, boost jobs: Paul Chan

Hong Kong’s first five-year plan will map out concrete paths to address the city’s shortcomings and magnify socio-economic benefits, including how artificial intelligence can create quality jobs, the financial chief has said a day ahead of the public consultation on the blueprint.

Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po said on Sunday that the key task for the blueprint would be the upgrading and transformation of the city’s economy, vowing to press ahead with the Northern Metropolis megaproject and make it a “spatial carrier for deploying emerging and future industries”.

“Hong Kong’s five-year plan aims not only to provide greater momentum for economic development and better application of technology, but also to promote more inclusive and equitable development in society, provide residents with more quality employment opportunities, and create a better life,” he said in his weekly blog.

The efforts to formulate Hong Kong’s first five-year plan are led by Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu, and the blueprint is expected to be finalised by the end of 2026.

Lee said last week that the public consultation for the outline would begin on Monday, confirming an earlier South China Morning Post report.

The public can submit views via dedicated websites during the two-month period, and the government would hold multiple sessions to gather input from various sectors, including lawmakers and industry representatives.

The blueprint aims at aligning Hong Kong’s development with China’s 15th five-year plan, which positions the city as an international hub for finance, shipping, trading, innovation and technology, offshore yuan and global talent.