Short answer. The annual average 30-year fixed mortgage rate in 2015 was 3.85%. The Federal Reserve raised the federal funds rate in December 2015 — the first hike since 2006, ending seven years of zero-interest-rate policy.
The 2015 annual average 30-year fixed mortgage rate was 3.85%, easing from 4.17% in 2014 as the global oil-price collapse pulled long-term Treasury yields lower. CPI inflation in 2015 averaged just 0.1% — the lowest reading since 2009 — driven entirely by the oil decline from $100 to $40 per barrel.
The December 2015 Fed hike
On December 16, 2015, the Federal Reserve raised the federal funds rate from 0–0.25% to 0.25–0.50% — the first hike since June 2006, ending seven years of the post-crisis zero-interest-rate policy. The market reaction was muted; mortgage rates barely moved on the announcement.
The 2015 housing market
Existing-home sales reached 5.25M, the highest since 2007. New-home sales rose to 501K. Median existing-home prices reached $222,400, up 6.5% YoY. The cycle was demonstrably back: prices were above 2007 nominal peaks, transaction volumes were recovering, and the distressed-sales share had fallen from its 2010-12 peak of 30%+ to roughly 8%.
How 2015 compares to today
The 3.85% rate in 2015 is exactly half of 2023's brief 8% peak. Combined with 2015's median home price of $222,400 vs 2024's $408,000, the monthly principal-and-interest payment on a 20%-down median-priced home in 2015 was about $836, vs $2,140 in 2024 — a 156% increase that captures the affordability collapse better than any single statistic.
Sources
U.S. Census Bureau Survey of Construction; National Association of Realtors Existing Home Sales report; Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey; National Bureau of Economic Research Business Cycle Dating Committee.