How much does a mortgage cost today over 10, 15, 20 or 25 years? This article presents the mortgage rates for September 2026, their recent evolution and the factors that explain them. It also offers three forecast scenarios for the coming months and for 2027, as well as advice for buyers and property owners looking to sell. For a personalised analysis of your project, Capifrance real estate advisers support you throughout France and can put you in touch with partner mortgage brokers to negotiate the best borrowing conditions.
Information up to date as of September 2026.
In summary
• September 2026 rates. The lowest rate ranges from 2.75% over 10 years to 3.20% over 25 years, the average rate from 3.08% to 3.43%, and the market rate scale has remained stable for several months, between 3.48% and 3.98% depending on the loan term.
• The trend. Near-stability on shorter terms and a slight increase on longer terms over the past 6 months and 1 year; conditions nevertheless remain significantly more favourable than at the peak of the 2023 rate-hike cycle.
• Factors to watch. ECB monetary policy, pressure on the 10-year French OAT yield, around 4.10% in mid-August, the national budgetary context, inflation trends and the 2026 PTZ reform.
• Our recommendation. Serious buyers would do well to take action without waiting for a hypothetical fall in rates, while property owners looking to sell can move forward with confidence, ideally supported by a local Capifrance real estate adviser.
French Mortgage rates in September 2026: figures by loan term
Each month, the French mortgage market can be read through three categories of rates: the lowest rate, reserved for the strongest applications and the best-negotiated borrower profiles; the average rate, which reflects observed practice across banks and brokers in the market; and the market rate scale, which corresponds to the catalogue grids displayed by banks before any individual negotiation. Here is a snapshot of these three indicators for September 2026, by loan term.
Term | Lowest rate | Average rate | Market rate scale |
|---|---|---|---|
10 years | 2.75% | 3.08% | 3.48% |
15 years | 2.99% | 3.17% | 3.71% |
20 years | 3.10% | 3.34% | 3.84% |
25 years | 3.20% | 3.43% | 3.98% |
These data are established from a national panel of banks, mutual banking networks and brokers, in line with the benchmarks published by the Observatoire Crédit Logement/CSA and the Banque de France. They help place your project in context, whether you borrow over a short term to limit the total cost of credit or over a longer term to preserve your monthly payment.
The 10-year rate: the most advantageous term, but the least accessible
With a lowest rate of 2.75% and an average rate of 3.08%, a 10-year mortgage remains, in September 2026, the least costly term in cumulative interest. However, it is aimed at a specific audience: households with a substantial personal contribution, investors seeking to limit the overall cost of a transaction, or borrowers nearing the end of their career who want to repay their loan quickly. Since the monthly payment is mechanically higher than over a longer term, this option requires comfortable repayment capacity.
The 15-year rate: a compromise for established budgets
The lowest 15-year rate stands at 2.99% in September 2026, with an average rate of 3.17%. This term appeals to borrowers who want to limit the total cost of credit while keeping a reasonable monthly payment. It remains particularly sought after by households with two stable incomes and a personal contribution of around 10% to 15% of the transaction amount.
The 20-year rate: the benchmark term in the French market
With a lowest rate of 3.10% and an average rate of 3.34%, the 20-year mortgage remains the most commonly subscribed term in France, because it offers the best balance between an affordable monthly payment and a controlled total cost. It is also the benchmark term used by most observatories and simulators to compare monthly market trends.
The 25-year rate: the term that preserves real estate purchasing power
The lowest 25-year rate reaches 3.20% in September 2026, with an average rate of 3.43%. This term, now widely normalised since the structural lengthening of financing plans observed since 2023–2024, allows first-time buyers and households with more constrained incomes to maximise their borrowing capacity by reducing the monthly payment, at the cost of a higher total credit cost.
Across all loan terms, the gap between the lowest rate and the market rate scale remains significant: it ranges from 0.73 percentage points over 10 years to 0.78 percentage points over 25 years. This gap illustrates the importance of the quality of the application, competition between lenders and the use of a broker or real estate adviser to access the best conditions rather than the catalogue rate.
Evolution of mortgage rates in France over 6 months, 1 year and 3 years
To properly understand the current level of rates, it is useful to place it in a medium-term perspective. The table below compares the lowest rate in September 2026 with the rate observed six months earlier, in March 2026, and one year earlier, in September 2025.
Term | Sept. 2026 | March 2026 (-6 months) | Sept. 2025 (-1 year) |
|---|---|---|---|
10 years | 2.75% | 2.78% | 2.79% |
15 years | 2.99% | 2.95% | 2.85% |
20 years | 3.10% | 2.95% | 2.94% |
25 years | 3.20% | 3.10% | 3.06% |
Over the past six months, the trend has been near-stability for shorter terms, 10 and 15 years, and a slight increase for longer terms, 20 and 25 years, which have gained between 0.10 and 0.15 percentage points since March 2026. Over one year, the observation is similar: rates over 10 and 15 years have moved within a narrow corridor, while rates over 20 and 25 years have tightened slightly, by around 0.14 to 0.16 percentage points, under the combined effect of the ECB’s key-rate increase in the spring and the pressure on bond yields observed this summer.
Over three years, the comparison changes scale radically. Between summer 2022 and autumn 2023, France experienced the fastest and most marked rise in rates since the early 2000s, following the monetary tightening of the European Central Bank, which implemented ten consecutive increases in its key rates between July 2022 and September 2023, bringing its deposit rate up to 4.00%. In September 2023, in the middle of the tightening phase, the average rate for a 20-year mortgage was around 4.00% to 4.20%, depending on lenders and borrower profiles, compared with an average of 3.34% today for the same term. The gap, around 70 to 90 basis points, shows that despite the tensions observed in recent months, September 2026 borrowers remain in a significantly more favourable situation than three years ago.
Analysis of the factors driving mortgage-rate changes in France
Several often interconnected drivers explain the movements observed in recent months. Here are the main factors to watch in order to anticipate what comes next.
European Central Bank monetary policy. After a long period of stability, the ECB raised its key rates in June 2026, the first increase in three years, bringing the main refinancing rate to 2.40%, the deposit rate to 2.25% and the marginal lending rate to 2.65%. At its meeting on 23 July 2026, it chose to pause, without reversing this increase. The September meeting, accompanied by new macroeconomic projections for inflation and growth, will be closely watched: it could either confirm this pause or open the door to further tightening if inflation does not confirm its decline. Commercial banks, which partly refinance themselves through the ECB, pass these movements on to their mortgage rate scales with a lag of a few weeks to a few months, depending on their own commercial strategy.
The yield on 10-year French OAT government bonds. The 10-year OAT serves as a long-term benchmark for mortgage pricing, particularly for 20- and 25-year terms. This summer, however, the yield came under notable pressure: after nearing 4% in the spring, it crossed this threshold within a few sessions to reach around 4.10% in mid-August 2026, its highest level in several years. This increase reflects the growing requirements of international investors, who are demanding higher remuneration to finance French debt over the long term, in a context of heightened vigilance over the country’s budget trajectory. A lasting rise in the OAT yield tends mechanically to push bank rate scales higher, especially on longer terms, which are more sensitive to this parameter.
The state of public finances and the perception of sovereign risk. French public debt reached around €3,559 billion at the end of August 2026, equivalent to 118.3% of GDP, and the 2026 deficit is now estimated at between 4.9% and 5.3% of GDP according to institutions such as the IMF, the European Commission and S&P. To finance these needs, Agence France Trésor plans to issue more than €530 billion of debt in 2026, a record level. While S&P maintained France’s rating at “A+” at the end of May 2026, judging the government’s stance reassuring, Moody’s and Fitch downgraded their ratings, considering it unlikely that the target of reducing the deficit to 2.7% of GDP by 2027 will be achieved. This more cautious perception by rating agencies directly contributes to the pressure observed on OAT yields and therefore, indirectly, on mortgage rates.
Inflation and the economic environment. After a particularly calm year for prices in 2025, with +0.9% over the full year according to INSEE, French inflation regained momentum in spring 2026 before falling back to 1.8% year-on-year in June, after 2.4% in May. This still uncertain trajectory remains one of the parameters most closely watched by the ECB when setting monetary policy for the coming months: a lasting return towards the 2% target would open the door to easing, while a renewed inflationary surge would encourage caution, or even further tightening.
New public schemes supporting home ownership. The zero-interest loan, known as the PTZ, was extensively reformed for 2026: it is now available to a fourth income bracket, broadening access to middle-class households previously excluded from the scheme; it can finance up to 50% of the transaction amount in eligible areas; and it once again makes it possible to finance new-build detached houses across the entire country, including in less tense areas. Extended until 31 December 2027, this scheme does not directly change market-rate levels, but it significantly improves first-time buyers’ purchasing capacity by reducing the amount to be financed through a standard loan, which has a direct effect on the amount of interest paid.
The national and international geopolitical context. Without entering into any political debate, it should be noted that international geopolitical uncertainty, as well as the climate of institutional instability observed in France around the preparation of the 2027 budget, maintains a degree of caution among bond investors and households alike. This uncertainty weighs both on financial markets, through a higher risk premium demanded on French debt, and on buyer confidence, with some buyers postponing their real estate project while waiting for greater visibility. Energy and raw-material prices, which are sensitive to international tensions, also contribute indirectly to the trajectory of inflation and therefore to that of rates.
Banks’ commercial strategy and banking competition. Finally, beyond major macroeconomic indicators, each banking institution adjusts its rate scales according to its own credit-production targets, savings inflows and commercial positioning. This explains why the market rate scale has remained stable for several months, between 3.48% and 3.98% depending on the term, even though the lowest rates, reserved for the best applications, fluctuate slightly from one month to the next: some banks choose to remain aggressive on the best profiles to stimulate production without necessarily changing their catalogue grids.
Forecasts: what trends for mortgage rates in the coming months and in 2027?
Producing reliable forecasts for mortgage-rate evolution requires combining several trajectories: inflation, ECB monetary policy, OAT yields and therefore perceptions of French sovereign risk, as well as the budgetary and geopolitical context. On this basis, sector professionals envisage quite a wide range for 2027, from around 2.4% to 5%, depending on the loan terms and scenarios used. To help future borrowers project themselves, we detail below three reasonable scenarios: an optimistic scenario, a realistic scenario, the most likely given the information currently available, and a pessimistic scenario.
Optimistic scenario: a gradual easing of rates from the first half of 2027
In this scenario, inflation continues to fall towards the ECB’s 2% target over the coming months, confirmed by autumn 2026 publications. This context would allow the European Central Bank to begin a new cycle of monetary easing from the start of 2027, with one or more cuts to its key rates. At the same time, the adoption of a 2027 budget deemed credible by markets and rating agencies would help ease pressure on French OAT yields, which could fall back below the 3.5% threshold. In this configuration, the average 20-year rate could gradually fall back towards 3%, or even slightly below, by mid-2027, moving closer to the levels observed at the beginning of 2026. This scenario remains plausible, but it requires several favourable developments to occur simultaneously on inflation, the budget and market confidence.
Realistic or cautious scenario: rates stabilise around current levels
This is the scenario considered most likely given the information available to date. It is based on the assumption that the ECB extends its monetary pause while waiting for more stable inflation data, with no marked new increase but no rapid cut either. French OAT yields would remain within a relatively high range, between 3.7% and 4.1%, as long as the country’s budget trajectory has not gained clarity and credibility among investors. In this context, mortgage rates would move within a narrow corridor, with monthly variations of a few hundredths of a point depending on the term, as has been observed since spring 2026. The average 20-year rate would therefore remain between 3.2% and 3.5% until the end of 2026, with a comparable evolution expected in the first half of 2027 unless there is a significant macroeconomic or political shock.
Pessimistic scenario: renewed rate pressure under the effect of budgetary and geopolitical risk
In this third scenario, France’s budgetary situation continues to deteriorate or generate market distrust, for example in the event of a new rating downgrade by an agency, prolonged difficulties in adopting a 2027 budget considered sufficiently ambitious, or international geopolitical tensions that would increase energy prices and reignite inflation. In that case, French OAT yields could continue rising above 4.2%, or even test still higher levels not seen for several years. The ECB, faced with inflation that would rise again on a lasting basis, could then be forced to tighten monetary policy once more. Under this assumption, the average 20-year rate could rise back towards 3.7% to 4% by spring 2027, and the market rate scale could once again exceed the 4% mark, as was the case at the 2023 peak. This scenario, less likely than the cautious scenario in the short term, cannot however be ruled out given the current uncertainty surrounding the trajectory of public finances.
In all three cases, one constant remains: brokers and real estate advisers recommend not basing a purchase decision on speculation about future rate movements, but instead securing financing as soon as the project is mature, with the option of renegotiating later if rates were to fall significantly.
Our advice for buyers: should you move forward now?
With an average 20-year rate of 3.34% and a lowest rate of 3.10%, financing conditions in September 2026 remain significantly more favourable than those observed at the 2023 peak, while remaining close to their levels of recent months. Several factors support serious buyers taking action quickly rather than waiting for an extended period.
• A context of stabilised rates rather than sharply rising rates. The most likely short-term scenario is rate stabilisation, not a surge. Waiting for a hypothetical decrease carries a real risk: that rates could tighten further if the budgetary or geopolitical context deteriorates, as illustrated by the pessimistic scenario detailed above.
• Real negotiating power thanks to the gap between the lowest rate and the rate scale. The gap of 0.73 to 0.78 percentage points between the lowest rate and the market rate scale shows that a well-prepared application, supported by a professional, can obtain significantly better conditions than those displayed by a bank branch.
• Strengthened support schemes for first-time buyers. The 2026 PTZ reform, with access opened to a fourth income bracket and possible financing of up to 50% of the transaction, concretely improves the purchasing capacity of many households that were previously excluded.
• A resale market more favourable to price negotiations. The slowdown observed in the existing-home market, with an expected fall of around 5% in transaction volumes in 2026, gives buyers greater room for price negotiation, which can partly offset the level of rates.
In practical terms, buyers are advised to prepare a strong application, with a personal contribution, stable income and a controlled debt-to-income ratio, compare several bank offers rather than limiting themselves to their own bank, and seek professional support to optimise the financial structure. Capifrance real estate advisers can support you in defining your purchase project and put you in touch with partner mortgage brokers who can negotiate the best borrowing conditions for you in the current market.
Our advice for property owners looking to sell: now is the right time to get started
If you are considering selling your property, particularly to finance a new real estate project using the proceeds of the sale supplemented by a new loan, the September 2026 context should be rather reassuring. Mortgage rates, although slightly higher than at the beginning of the year, remain contained and allow a large share of potential buyers to continue borrowing under reasonable conditions. Your property therefore continues to address a pool of solvent buyers, provided it is positioned at the right price.
The slowdown in transaction volumes in the existing-home market does not mean there are no buyers: it mainly reflects their increased selectivity, with buyers placing greater value on properties that are correctly priced, well presented and supported by a complete diagnostics file. In this more demanding context, support from a real estate professional becomes a decisive asset in securing your sale under good price and timing conditions.
This is precisely the role of a local Capifrance real estate adviser: they help you prepare your sale project under the best conditions, provide a professional and in-depth property valuation of your home, taking into account recent transactions in your neighbourhood and the specific features of your property, then support you in defining the most suitable marketing strategy for your property, its location and the current context of the local and national real estate market. They can also put you in touch with partner mortgage brokers if your sale project involves new financing, in order to secure your entire residential journey.
Being supported in this way allows you to approach the sale of your property with peace of mind, relying on in-depth knowledge of the local market and a proven marketing method, rather than being exposed to the uncertainties of the national macroeconomic context.
Conclusion
• In September 2026, the lowest rate stands between 2.75% over 10 years and 3.20% over 25 years, while the average rate ranges from 3.08% to 3.43% depending on the term, and the market rate scale has remained stable for several months, between 3.48% and 3.98%.
• Over 6 months and 1 year, the trend is near-stability on shorter terms and a slight increase on longer terms; over 3 years, borrowers remain in a significantly more favourable situation than at the peak of the 2023 monetary-tightening cycle.
• Rates are influenced by ECB policy, the yield on 10-year French OAT bonds, which reached around 4.10% in mid-August 2026, the state of public finances and rating-agency perceptions, inflation, public schemes such as the 2026 PTZ, and the national and international geopolitical context.
• Three scenarios are possible for the coming months and for 2027: gradual easing under the optimistic assumption, stabilisation around current levels under the most likely assumption, and renewed rate pressure under the most cautious assumption.
• In this context, serious buyers are advised to take action without waiting for a hypothetical and uncertain decline, while property owners looking to sell can confidently move forward with their project, ideally supported by a local Capifrance real estate adviser for the valuation and marketing strategy of their property.
FAQ — Your questions about mortgage rates in September 2026
What is the average rate for a 20-year mortgage in September 2026?
The average 20-year rate stands at 3.34% in September 2026, with a lowest rate of 3.10% for the best profiles and a market rate scale of 3.84% for non-negotiated catalogue offers.
Have mortgage rates risen or fallen compared with August 2026?
The movement is measured and varies by term: the best rates eased slightly on shorter terms, 10 and 15 years, while the average rate increased very slightly on most terms, in a context of persistent pressure on French OAT yields. Banks’ catalogue rate scales, however, have remained unchanged for several months.
Why does the 10-year OAT influence mortgage rates?
The 10-year OAT is the rate at which the French state borrows on financial markets. It serves as a long-term benchmark for banks, which use it to price their mortgages, particularly over 20- and 25-year terms. When the OAT increases, as was the case this summer 2026 with a peak of around 4.10% in mid-August, banks tend to adjust their rate scales upwards to preserve their margins.
Should I buy now or wait for a possible rate decrease in 2027?
There is no universal answer, as it depends on how mature your project is, your personal situation and your time horizon. The scenario considered most likely in the short term is rate stabilisation rather than a rapid decline, and waiting carries the opposite risk: rates could tighten if the budgetary or geopolitical context deteriorates. For a mature project, securing financing now, while considering a later renegotiation in the event of a significant decrease, remains the approach recommended by most professionals.
How can I obtain the best possible mortgage rate in September 2026?
Access to the lowest rate depends on several criteria: a substantial personal contribution, stable income, a controlled debt-to-income ratio of around 35%, and a well-prepared application. Comparing several banks, possibly through a broker, also helps reduce the gap with the market rate scale, which reaches up to 0.78 percentage points depending on the loan term.
What impact does the 2026 PTZ have on my borrowing capacity?
The zero-interest loan reformed for 2026 can now finance up to 50% of a transaction in eligible areas, applies to a fourth income bracket including more middle-class households, and once again finances new-build detached houses across the country. By reducing the amount to be financed through a standard loan, it directly reduces the amount of interest to be paid and improves the purchasing capacity of many first-time buyers, in addition to the market rates presented in this article.
For a personalised analysis of your purchase or sale project, contact a Capifrance real estate adviser near you, or estimate your property for free online today.
The rates presented in this article are indicative and provided for information purposes only; they do not constitute a loan offer. To obtain a personalised simulation and a detailed offer, contact your bank, a broker or a Capifrance real estate adviser.
Author :
Frédéric Rémy – Director of Commercial Performance
A real estate professional for several years within the Capifrance network, I would like to share with you some essential advice to help you succeed in your real estate project with the support of our advisors.
