Home Prices Are Rising TooĪ mortgage doesn’t exist in a vacuum, it’s a loan used to pay for property, so it’s important to consider rates alongside what’s happening to housing prices. Compare it to where rates were before the 2008 financial crisis, when 5% would’ve been pretty good. The recent rise in mortgage rates looks dramatic after two years of rates around 3%, but even 5% isn’t too bad from a broader historical perspective. Here’s a visual look at how current mortgage rates compare to the last 22 years. Historical Mortgage Rates: Today’s Rates Are Still Favorable “There’s just so much uncertainty in the marketplace at the moment that it’s so difficult to say exactly where they’re going,” Mike Schenk, chief economist for the Credit Union National Association, told us. Those predictions come with a grain of salt: A lot can change in the economy, and it can change quickly. “I do think interest rates will continue to rise in April, I just don’t think it’s going to be as sharp of an increase as we saw from February into March,” Jodi Hall, president of Nationwide Mortgage Bankers, a national lender, told us. Rates will probably keep moving up in April, experts told us. Expert Prediction: Where Will Mortgage Rates Go in April? “We have a lot of factors like that that are putting upward pressure on mortgage rates,” Channel says. On top of that, financial markets are still responding to other global factors that can affect the economy, namely the prospect of a resurgence of COVID-19 and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The Federal Reserve has also signaled it intends to take aggressive action – raising its benchmark short-term interest rate and making other moves – to rein in inflation, which could lead to further increases in interest rates. Interest rates tend to rise when inflation is high, he says. Inflation was 7.9% in February according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the highest in 40 years. Persistently high inflation is a big one, Channel says. The surge in mortgage rates so far this year is due to a variety of economic factors. “It’s going to be a little bit of a challenge.”Įxcept where otherwise noted, mortgage rate data in this story is based on mortgage rate information provided by national lenders to, which like NextAdvisor is owned by Red Ventures. “Now could still be a good time to buy a house, especially if you shop around for a mortgage, if you work on having a good credit score and a solid down payment,” he says. That doesn’t mean you need to give up, just be strategic about shopping for a home, says Jacob Channel, senior economic analyst at LendingTree. Buyers should be sure to shop around for mortgage rates, as quotes from different lenders can vary considerably, experts say.īetween the median home listing price topping $400,000 for the first time and mortgage rates on the cusp of 5%, times have quickly gotten tough for homebuyers.Experts say inflation and uncertain economic conditions, such as COVID-19 and Russia’s war in Ukraine, are largely responsible for the surge in rates recently.
![goodtimes photos goodtimes photos](https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Good-Times-John-Amos-and-Esther-Rolle.jpg)