The Rate Dial

Updated October 14, 2026

A quarter point on a mortgage rate shows up in one place: the monthly payment. The Rate Dial puts that on a slider. Set the price of a home you are looking at and see what the payment is at today’s rate, what it becomes if the rate rises or falls, and what the same payment buys once the rate has changed. Own already? The refinancing side shows what a new rate does to the payment, the payoff date and the interest still to be paid.

We are not lenders. The figures are principal and interest on a fixed-rate loan, and every number is confirmed with your lender before it goes in an offer or an application.

What does a one point rate change do to a South Bay payment?

On a $1,500,000 purchase with 20 percent down, the loan is $1,200,000. At 7.40 percent, Freddie Mac's 30-year average for the week of October 8, 2026, the principal and interest payment is $8,309 a month. At 8.40 percent it is $9,142. One point adds $833 a month, about $10,000 a year. A quarter point adds $206. The arithmetic scales with the loan: on a $2,400,000 purchase with the same 20 percent down, the loan is $1,920,000 and the same one point adds $1,334 a month.

If you are buying, that is the figure to hold against a lender's quote: the difference between two rate quotes on the same loan is a dollar amount you can see, and a rate lock protects it through escrow. If you own and are deciding when to sell, your buyer is doing the same arithmetic, and the next section shows what it does to the price they can reach.

Why does the tool show what the same payment buys?

A South Bay buyer usually starts from a monthly number, not a price. Hold the $8,309 payment steady and raise the rate to 8.40 percent, and the loan it supports falls from $1,200,000 to about $1,091,000. With 20 percent down that is a price of about $1,363,000, about $137,000 under the $1,500,000 the buyer started at. Lower the rate a point instead, to 6.40 percent, and the same payment reaches about $1,660,000.

For a seller in the Beach Cities or on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, this is the number behind a thinner buyer pool when rates rise. The home did not change. The payment did, and the buyers who were qualifying at the old payment are now looking $137,000 lower. A seller-paid rate buydown is one way to bring those buyers back without a price cut, and the tool prints the figures for it under the buying results.

What does a refinance do to the payoff date?

A refinance replaces the loan, and most new loans run 30 years from the day they close. An owner with 27 years left who takes a new 30-year loan adds three years to the payoff. On a $1,000,000 balance at 7.25 percent, the payment is $7,042 a month with about $1,282,000 in interest still to pay. A new 30-year loan at 6.50 percent is $6,321 a month, $721 lower, and $8,000 in closing costs is recovered after 12 payments.

The interest over the new loan's 30 years is about $1,275,000. The saving in interest is about $6,000, small next to the $721 a month, because the balance is spread over three more years. Keep paying the old $7,042 on the new loan and it pays off in about 22 years and 8 months, with about $911,000 in interest, about $370,000 less than staying put. The tool shows all three: the new payment, the new payoff date, and the payoff if the old payment continues. The "same payoff date" button runs the new rate over the years you have left, so the comparison is rate against rate with nothing else changed.

Bought with a 2-1 or a 1-0 buydown? The payment steps up to the full note rate when the buydown ends. Enter the note rate as the current rate on the refinancing side to see the payment it steps up to. Whether a refinance makes sense is a question for your lender and your own plans for the house. The tool shows what the arithmetic says.

When does a South Bay loan become a jumbo loan?

The 2026 conforming limit for a one-unit home in Los Angeles County is $1,249,125, per the Federal Housing Finance Agency. A loan above it is a jumbo loan, and most purchases in Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach and Palos Verdes Estates are jumbo or cash. The tool says which side of the line a loan falls on. Freddie Mac's weekly average is built from conforming loans, so a jumbo quote can sit above or below it. The rate to use is the one your lender writes down. Our page on what you can afford in the South Bay covers the difference between the two kinds of loan, and Your Buyer's Wallet adds taxes, insurance and HOA dues to the payment.

How does a seller-paid rate buydown fit in?

A seller-paid rate buydown is a credit the seller gives at closing that the buyer's lender uses to lower the rate, for the first one to three years or for the life of the loan. On the tool's default loan at 8.40 percent, a 1-0 buydown sets the first-year payment at $8,309, one point below the note rate, and the seller credit that funds it is about $10,000. The tool prints that pair for whatever loan and rate you set.

What we report next

Freddie Mac publishes its survey every Thursday at 12 p.m. Eastern, and the rate that loads here is refreshed from it. The date beside the rate says which week. Our next market report publishes October 20, 2026, with twelve months of closed sales through September, on Market Insights.

Buying, selling, or still deciding if the South Bay is where you'll settle down next? Neil Chhabria, Broker, 310.798.3122, [email protected].

Sources

• Freddie Mac, Primary Mortgage Market Survey, 30-year fixed-rate mortgage 7.40 percent as of October 8, 2026
• Federal Housing Finance Agency, Conforming Loan Limit Values for 2026, November 25, 2025
• Payment figures: standard amortization of a fixed-rate loan, principal and interest only, computed by Chhabria Real Estate Company, October 14, 2026

By Neil Chhabria, Broker and CEO, Chhabria Real Estate Company. DRE 01821437. Chhabria Real Estate Company is not a lender. Figures on this page are principal and interest only and leave out property taxes, homeowners insurance, HOA dues and mortgage insurance. Nothing here is a loan quote, a commitment to lend, or tax, lending, legal or investment advice. Rates vary by lender, loan size, credit and property. Equal Housing Opportunity.