With stubbornly high interest rates, some are reconsidering adjustable-rate mortgages

NPR | By Wailin Wong,

Adrian Ma

Published November 5, 2026 at 6:09 PM EST

With the rates for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages at 7% or more, is it time to reconsider the far less popular adjustable-rate mortgage? New analysis shows that ARMs have paid off for borrowers.

Wailin Wong

Wailin Wong is a co-host of The Indicator from Planet Money.

Adrian Ma

Adrian Ma covers work, money and other "business-ish" for The Indicator from Planet Money, the daily economics podcast from NPR.

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