Historical Mortgage Rates
The following chart indicates how mortgage interest rates have moved up and down over the last twenty years: Year 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 30 year fixed 10.21% 10.34% 10.32% 10.13% 9.25% 8.39% 7.31% 8.38% 7.9% 7.81% 7.60% 6.94% 7.44% 8.05% 6.97% 6.54% 5.83% 5.84% 5.87% 6.41% 6.26% 1 year ARM 7.83% 7.90% 8.80% 8.36% 7.09% 5.62% 4.58% 5.36% 6.06% 5.67% 5.61% 5.58% 5.99% 7.04% 5.82% 4.62% 3.76% 3.90% 4.49% 5.54% 5.49%
Why Mortgage Interest Rates are Important It is estimated that only 0.01 percent of people can afford to buy a home without taking out a mortgage loan. If you aren't part of that 0.01 percent, you need to pay attention to what mortgage interest rates are doing. The rate of interest you pay can significantly impact your monthly mortgage payment, as well as the total amount paid for the home over the life of the loan.
The Future of Mortgage Interest Rates
It is very difficult to determine what will happen to the economy and the market, and what The Fed will do as a result. Interest rates may stay low for a long period of time, or they may begin to slowly creep up until they match or extend past the high rates of the 70s and 80s. Many analysts are predicting that rates will remain low through 2010, but these predictions are nothing more than good guesses at best. If you want to predict what interest rates will do, you can also look at the history of mortgage interest rates, study the economy, and the models used by The Federal Reserve. Remember though, there is no way to tell for sure what the future will bring for mortgage interest rates.