This Week
The mortgage rate, the fuel prices and what is being built, as the federal agencies last published them.
LATESTSources checked 2026-08-05 · Freddie Mac, EIA and the Census Bureau · each figure carries its own week
What Each Number Means
The Mortgage Rate
The national average 30-year fixed mortgage rate, for the week of 2026-07-30, a year ago it was 6.72%. A national average for a borrower with good credit and 20% down; a real quote differs by credit, points and lender.
Heating Oil
Heating oil, New England average, as of 2026-03-30. Surveyed only during heating season, this is the season's last reading, not today's street price.
The Heat Index: $4,462 for a season of oil heat
Tracked weekly since 1990, the all-time peak was $4,706 in the week of 2022-11-07. The heat-pump equivalent this week: $3,335. The whole 35-year chart.
Electricity
Electricity, Massachusetts residential average, 2026-05: down 3.6% on a year ago. Light-plant towns pay their own, usually lower, rates.
Homes Permitted in 2025
Across all 101 towns, 2025, the latest complete year. Includes the Census Bureau's estimates for months towns didn't file (263 units came from actual filings).
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Read the issue of August 3, 2026, or every past issue; they all stay readable on the site.
From the Desk
RE413 News: why your tax bill moved when the rate did not. Built from the same public record as the figures on this page.
Sources
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey, via FRED. Figures through the week of 2026-07-30.
- U.S. Energy Information Administration weekly heating fuels survey. Figures through the week of 2026-03-30.
- U.S. Energy Information Administration, monthly retail electricity averages. Figures through 2026-05.
- U.S. Census Bureau, Building Permits Survey. Checked 2026-08-05.
"Figures through" is the period the publisher's data describes; "checked" is only when we last asked. The full sourcing: sources and method.