Average monthly mortgage payments top $2K — a new record 

The average monthly mortgage payment has climbed to a new high as persistently elevated mortgage rates and home prices contribute to housing affordability constraints.

Meanwhile, most Americans feel confident about their job security even though the past few months of jobs market data have painted a muddy picture of the U.S. labor market. But many have at least some concerns — worries that are impacting decisions to make big purchases, like buying a home.

Mortgage payments hit new high: The average monthly mortgage payment has topped $2,000 for the first time ever — surging to $2,005 in Q4 2025, according to Realtor.com's latest quarterly report. The average payment is up 44% from 2021 and represents a whopping $600 increase in just three years.

Newly originated mortgages, which started to climb above $2,000 per month in September 2022, generally carry the weight of high home prices and elevated mortgage rates today.

Some Americans missing housing payments: With affordability pressures continuing to strain many Americans' wallets, some homeowners and renters have been forced to make their monthly housing payments late — or skip them altogether. 

A March survey of 1,005 U.S. residents conducted by Redfin in partnership with Ipsos found that 7% of workers reported missing a rent or mortgage payment in the past three months while an additional 10% said they've been late to make a payment. Among respondents who expressed concerns about job security, 13% said they missed a recent rent or mortgage payment while 19% made a payment late.

1 in 3 workers canceling, postponing purchases: Redfin's survey found that 36% of American workers said they were delaying or canceling plans to make a major purchase due to job concerns — a slight improvement over the results of a similar survey conducted in August 2025, which found the share to be at 42%.

But 31% of March survey respondents said they either already made a major purchase more quickly than expected or plan to do so because of their feelings about job security — up slightly from 29% last summer. Both surveys found roughly the same share of workers for whom job security concerns had no impact on their plans (32% last August and 36% last month).

Worries about company performance, AI: While only 17% of March survey respondents were either "somewhat" or "very" concerned about their job security, nearly one-third (32%) were more worried than they had been six months earlier. At the opposite end of the spectrum, 18% felt more confident.

Workers' primary concerns were their company's performance and the impact of artificial intelligence, followed by government restructuring. While tariffs were a significant source of worry for many workers in 2025, the share of those who listed tariffs as their top job security concern dropped from 17% last August to 10% in March.

The silver lining: Though monthly payments have climbed, there are signs that the pandemic-era mortgage rate lock-in effect may be easing. Between the third and fourth quarters of 2025, the proportion of mortgages with sub-4% rates declined, according to Realtor.com's report, while those with 5-6% rates or higher increased. 

"Even in today's high-price, high-rate market, homebuying activity around major life events, such as having kids, a job change, or a divorce, keeps the market in motion," Realtor.com Senior Economic Research Analyst Hannah Jones said in the report.

"Easing inflation and mortgage rates will be key drivers of seller activity as well, which will relieve some of the price pressure and competition in today's undersupplied market," Jones added.