Some Perspective on Changes in Mortgage Interest Rates


Some Perspective on Changes in Mortgage Interest Rates
By Scott Rogers • December 13, 2018
In some ways, my alarm bells are going off! The mortgage interest rate a year ago was 3.9% -- and now it is 4.81%. Thus, rates have increased 23% in a single year! It is certainly more expensive to finance a home than over the past few years. But yet -- it looks like the average rate for 2018 will only be 0.54% higher than in 2017 -- and the graph above puts that in what might be a somewhat more helpful context. The last red bar (all the way to the right) is an indication of how much the annual average rate will have increased between 2017 and 2018. Any red bar is an increase in the average annual rate. Any blue bar is a decrease in the average annual rate. As such -- the increases we have seen in 2017 and in 2018 are a far cry from the crazy increases seen in 1978, 1979, 1980 and 1981. And there have been several times in the past thirty years when there has been a year or two of increases of less than 1% in a year, that were then followed by decreases in subsequent years. So -- back to real rates -- you could get a mortgage with a rate less than 4% a year ago, and now it would be just under 5%. And it's possible that the rates will keep rising in 2019. But in the big picture: The increase in the annual average rate over the past year has not been significant within a historical context. The actual rates are still lower than nearly all years over the past fifty years. Receive Updates by Email Recent Articles: Is There A Price You WOULD Pay For This House? There Are Plenty Of Types Of Houses That Exist That Just Are Not Available To Purchase Home Sales By Price Range In The City Of Harrisonburg Are You Compromising On Aspects Of Your Next Home That You Can Or Cannot Change Later? How Much Slower Are The Winter Months In Our Local Housing Market? Rockingham County and New Home Sales Drive Surge in Area Housing Market Find The Balance Between Optimistic And Realistic Home Pricing Room Size Is Difficult To Understand Solely From Real Estate Photos How Much Would You Value Not Having To Prepare Your Home For Showings? One Out Of Four Homes Is Taking Longer Than A Month To Sell
Have any questions? Contact Scott Rogers at 540-578-0102 or scott@funkhousergroup.com
Based on information from the Harrisonburg-Rockingham Association of REALTORS® or its MLS, for the period Jan 1, 2000 through Nov 24, 2024 (unless otherwise noted).
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