What's going on with mortgage interest rates these days?
One of the Seattle real estate trends that has been weighing on buyers' minds is rising interest rates. The recession obviously brought its perils for many families, but it also brought affordable real estate and historically low interest rates.
Prices have rebounded, and then some, dampening affordability and stretching the wallets or commutes of home buyers. But we've been in a golden era of mortgage interest rates... a golden era that is slowly coming to an apparent end.
Barring another financial, economic, or global disaster, we may not see 30 year interest rates as low as 3.5% again, and although today's interest rates are higher than the valley of spring 2013, we are still on the historically VERY low side.
Freddie Mac's most recent "Primary Mortgage Market Survey" had the average 30 year mortgage interest rate clocking in at 4.55% as of May 10, 2018. How low is 4.55%? According to the data provided by Freddie Mac, the only time we've seen 4.5% rates since 1971 was during the last 7 years while on the way into, amidst, and seemingly out of the interest rate valley that followed the Great Recession.
Historically low or not, rising interest rates coupled with rising prices foster a climate that is increasingly lacking in affordability.
So where do we go from here? Impossible to accurately say without a crystal ball, given the factors that can affect mortgage rates. BUT, the eye test on a quick look at the chart over the last seven years sure looks like we're officially out of the valley and back on the upswing.
Would you like some more in depth mortgage insight catered to your particular financial scenario? I'd be happy to refer you to the mortgage professional who does my wife and my personal loans and has a long history of taking care of our clientele... just contact me and I'll be happy to make that introduction.
