The refinance wave that was supposed to arrive when rates eased never showed up. What replaced it is homeowners staying where they are and tapping the equity they already have.
Home-equity products, HELOCs plus reverse mortgages, drew 76% of the mortgage inquiries consumers submitted across RateZip’s network over the three months through August, up from 43% in the same months a year earlier, according to RateZip’s Mortgage Demand Index. Refinancing went the other way over the same three-month window, from 39% of the mix to 2%. Overall inquiry volume in August ran 11% above July and 157% above August 2025.
The backdrop is a rate that refuses to fall. Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey put the average 30-year fixed at 6.71% in the week ending September 3, up from 6.66% a week earlier. The 10-year Treasury yield, the benchmark long-term mortgage pricing most closely tracks, stood at 4.79% at Wednesday’s close, unchanged from the prior close and up 13 basis points over the past week, per FRED.
Why sellers are staying put
The Fed is seeing the same thing from the other side of the desk. The Cleveland Fed’s Fourth District report, released September 2, notes that a lack of existing-home supply is dampening sales as homeowners stay put, with several contacts attributing the lock-in effect to higher long-term interest rates. One banker cited rising demand for HELOCs.
That matches what the people fielding the calls are hearing. “The most common question I get is ‘Is my credit OK for a HELOC?’ Rates have been drifting up with no hope of dropping — this is causing people to give up. It’s surprising how many people want shorter fixed terms and don’t want the traditional interest-only product,” said LeeAnn Reynolds, a licensed loan originator at RateZip.
Paul Knag, RateZip’s founder, sees the same shift in what borrowers ask for. “Recently, borrowers have started asking about short fixed-term equity products, like a 10- or 15-year HELOAN. There has been more hesitation in home buyers who haven’t signed a contract, as the Fed signals rate cuts are very unlikely. The volume of folks who want to tap their equity with a 2nd mortgage continues to increase week over week,” he said.
What lenders posted Friday
The 8 lenders RateZip tracks left all 27 posted rates unchanged on Friday. FourLeaf Federal Credit Union posts its HELOC at 6.75% (6.75% APR). On the 30-year fixed, the gap between the cheapest and most expensive posted rate in the tracked set is 1.25 points, AmeriSave at 5.625% versus Rocket Mortgage at 6.875%. On a $400,000 loan that spread works out to about $325 a month, a reminder that on any given morning the difference between lenders is far larger than the day-to-day movement of any one of them. Over the past week, the biggest move in the set is U.S. Bank’s posted 20-year fixed, up 0.365 points.
Buyers who are still in the market are adapting rather than retreating. The MBA’s weekly survey for the week ending August 28 showed overall application volume up 0.8% seasonally adjusted, with purchase activity rising and refinances slipping, according to RISMedia’s report on the survey; MBA’s economist tied purchase support to ample local inventory and flagged a rising ARM share.
The fall ahead
For anyone waiting on the sidelines, the pressure may soon shift to the other party at the table. “Sellers may start to get more desperate in September and subsequent months when mortgage rates are likely to remain higher than they were at this time in 2025,” Jake Krimmel, senior economist at Realtor.com, said in comments published September 2.
Rates are each lender’s own published rate as of 9:50 a.m. ET, collected from their public rate pages and feeds. The APR is the better cross-lender comparison; a figure in parentheses is today’s change; a ‘—’ means the lender doesn’t post that product. How we collect and publish this: our rate methodology.
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RateZip is operated by Peklava LLC, DBA RateZip, a licensed mortgage broker (NMLS ID 1592292). We are compensated by some of the partners shown on this page, which may affect which offers appear and where. It does not affect our reporting or our recommendations. Rates shown were last updated September 4, 2026 at 9:50 a.m. ET. See our editorial standards and how we use AI.
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This article originally appeared on ZipRate and was syndicated by MediaFeed.co.
