Rates Eased Four Weeks Running. What It Means for Your Offer

If you've been watching rates and waiting for some kind of sign, the last month has given you a small one.

Freddie Mac's weekly survey, released November 12, put the average 30-year fixed rate at 7.11%, down from 7.18% the week before and 7.40% on October 15. It was the fourth weekly decline in a row, and Freddie Mac called it the lowest level in seven weeks. The 15-year average came in at 6.45%.

What the dip does to a monthly payment

I want to be honest about the size of this. On a $200,000 loan, principal and interest at 7.40% comes to about $1,385 a month. At 7.11% it's about $1,345. That's roughly $40 a month, spread over four weeks of small moves.

A year ago the same survey showed 6.24%, which would put that payment near $1,230. So on that loan amount, buyers today are still paying about $115 more a month than they were last fall, before taxes and insurance.

Rates and payments change weekly. Confirm your own numbers with a licensed lender. This isn't financial advice.

Four small dips won't change your budget on their own. They can bring more buyers back out, though, and it helps to be ready before that happens.

Where buyers have some room right now

Nationally, the market cooled in October. Realtor.com's October report, released November 4, showed active listings up 7.4% from a year ago, pending sales down 10.5%, and price cuts on 20.5% of listings. That's a national comparison, not our market, but it tells you sellers in a lot of places are seeing slower traffic.

The latest local figures we have are from September:

• City of Mobile (Redfin, September 2026): median sale price $224,893, up 1.3% from a year earlier; 611 homes sold, up 7.1%; about 45 days on market, 4 more than last year; homes sold at about 96.9% of list price.
• Baldwin County, traditional residential (Baldwin REALTORS, September 2026): average sale price $422,269; 482 closed sales, down from 585; 67 average days on market, down from 72; 604 new listings, down from 743. Baldwin's monthly report doesn't include a median price or months of supply.

In Mobile, selling at about 97% of list means most sellers expect some back and forth on price. In Baldwin, homes are still taking a little over two months to sell on average. Neither county is handing buyers easy wins, but in both there is usually room to ask.

What I'd do this month

• Look closely at homes that have been on the market 60 days or more, especially ones that have already had a market repositioning. Those sellers may be more open to talking about repairs or closing costs.
• Before you write an offer, ask us to pull what similar homes nearby actually sold for, not only what they were listed at. With Mobile homes selling around 97% of list, that gap is where your room to negotiate shows up.
• If lowering the payment matters more to you than lowering the price, our earlier post on the October 28 Fed decision walks through asking for a seller-paid rate buydown.
• If you're buying in Baldwin County, call Lifelines Counseling Services at (251) 602-0011 and ask when the next free homeownership class for the county's Homeownership Assistance Program will be. The most recent one was November 7 in Robertsdale.

If you'd like to look at real homes with real numbers, our team at Perch & Oak Property Group, with Keller Williams Mobile, is glad to sit down with you and work through them at your pace. We'll guide, not pressure. You can reach us here whenever you're ready.

Be Home.
Leslie Davis, AL License #72650
Perch & Oak Property Group
Keller Williams Mobile, 251-662-5660