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Wisconsin Watch partners with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. Read our methodology to learn how we check claims.

No.

Mortgage rates are roughly 2.5 times higher than when President Joe Biden took office.

Former President Donald Trump claimed “mortgage rates have quadrupled” during his nomination acceptance speech July 18, 2024, at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.

The U.S. average weekly rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage was 2.77% for the week ending Jan. 21, 2021, a day after Biden was inaugurated.

The latest rate, for the week ending July 18, 2024, was 6.77% — about 2.5 times higher.

On an annual basis, the rate was 6.8% in 2023, more than double the 3.11% in 2020.

The peak rate under Biden, 7.79% for the week ending Oct. 26, 2023, was about three times higher than in early 2021.

Several factors influence mortgage rates, including the Federal Reserve raising short-term bank lending rates to cool inflation.

Home prices are also up. In Wisconsin, they have increased nearly 30% under Biden.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

Freddie Mac: Mortgage Rates

Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis: 30-Year Fixed Rate Mortgage Average in the United States (MORTGAGE30US)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Donald Trump’s full speech at 2024 RNC: Assassination attempt, criminal trials & critiques of Biden

Bankrate: Mortgage rate history: 1970s to 2024

Wisconsin Watch: Have Wisconsin home prices risen nearly 30% under Joe Biden?

Bankrate: How The Fed’s Rate Decisions Move Mortgage Rates

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Have mortgage rates quadrupled since President Joe Biden took office?

by Tom Kertscher / Wisconsin Watch, Wisconsin Watch
July 19, 2024

<h1>Have mortgage rates quadrupled since President Joe Biden took office?</h1>
<p class="byline">by Tom Kertscher / Wisconsin Watch, Wisconsin Watch <br />July 19, 2024</p>

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<p><em><em><a href="https://www.wisconsinwatch.org/">Wisconsin Watch</a></em> partners with&nbsp;<a href="https://gigafact.org/">Gigafact</a>&nbsp;to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. <a href="https://wisconsinwatch.org/2023/05/how-wisconsin-watch-checks-claims-for-its-gigafact-fact-briefs/">Read our methodology</a> to learn how we check claims.</em></p>
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<h2 class="wp-block-heading">No.</h2>
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<p>Mortgage&nbsp;rates&nbsp;are roughly 2.5 times higher than when President Joe Biden took office.</p>
<p>Former President Donald Trump claimed "mortgage rates have quadrupled" during his nomination acceptance speech July 18, 2024, at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.</p>
<p>The U.S. average weekly rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage was 2.77% for the week ending Jan. 21, 2021, a day after Biden was inaugurated.</p>
<p>The latest rate, for the week ending July 18, 2024, was 6.77% — about 2.5 times higher.</p>
<p>On an&nbsp;annual&nbsp;basis, the rate was 6.8% in 2023, more than double the 3.11% in 2020.</p>
<p>The peak rate under Biden, 7.79% for the week ending Oct. 26, 2023, was about three times higher than in early 2021.</p>
<p>Several factors influence mortgage rates, including the Federal Reserve raising short-term bank lending rates to cool inflation.</p>
<p>Home prices are also up. In Wisconsin, they have increased nearly 30% under Biden.</p>
<p><em>This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as <a href="https://youtu.be/quLDlqNd_7w?t=2764" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">this one</a>.</em></p>
<p><strong>Sources</strong></p>
<p>Freddie Mac: <a href="https://www.freddiemac.com/pmms" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Mortgage Rates</a></p>
<p>Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis: <a href="https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MORTGAGE30US" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">30-Year Fixed Rate Mortgage Average in the United States (MORTGAGE30US)</a></p>
<p>Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quLDlqNd_7w&amp;t=2764s" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Donald Trump's full speech at 2024 RNC: Assassination attempt, criminal trials &amp; critiques of Biden</a></p>
<p>Bankrate: <a href="https://www.bankrate.com/mortgages/historical-mortgage-rates/#rates-over-time" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Mortgage rate history: 1970s to 2024</a></p>
<p>Wisconsin Watch: <a href="https://wisconsinwatch.org/2024/07/wisconsin-biden-home-housing-prices-trump-fact/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Have Wisconsin home prices risen nearly 30% under Joe Biden?</a></p>
<p>Bankrate: <a href="https://www.bankrate.com/mortgages/federal-reserve-and-mortgage-rates/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">How The Fed's Rate Decisions Move Mortgage Rates</a></p>
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<p>This &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://wisconsinwatch.org/2024/07/biden-trump-mortgage-rate-republican-wisconsin-president/&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt; first appeared on &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://wisconsinwatch.org&quot;&gt;Wisconsin Watch&lt;/a&gt; and is republished here under a &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/&quot;&gt;Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;img src=&quot;https://i0.wp.com/wisconsinwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/cropped-WCIJ_IconOnly_FullColor_RGB-1.png?fit=150%2C150&amp;amp;quality=100&amp;amp;ssl=1&quot; style=&quot;width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;&quot;&gt;</p>
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Have mortgage rates quadrupled since President Joe Biden took office?

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