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Mortgage Rates Teeter Just Above All Time Lows
- By Ki Gray
- Published 05/7/2009
- Real Estate
- Unrated
Mortgage rates moved down slightly this week. Even though rates didn't move much this week we are still sitting just a hair above all time lows thanks to the drop from last week. This week the 30 year rate dropped from 4.82 to 4.80. The all time low was reached earlier this month when 30 year rates hit 4.78. Even though the official index puts rates at 4.80 we have seen people getting rates as low as 4.4. The 15 year rate stayed even at 4.48. Both the 5 and 1 year arm dropped this week. But since both rates are above the 30 year fixed rate no one is interested in getting Arm's unless it's the only available option. We listed rates for the last few weeks below.
Apr 23, 2009
30-yr 4.80 15-yr 4.48 5-yr ARM 4.85 1-yr ARM 4.82
Apr 16, 2009
30-yr 4.82 15-yr 4.48 5-yr ARM 4.88 1-yr ARM 4.91
Apr 09, 2009
30-yr 4.87 15-yr 4.54 5-yr ARM 4.93 1-yr ARM 4.83
Apr 02, 2009
30-yr 4.78 15-yr 4.52 5-yr ARM 4.92 1-yr ARM 4.75
Mar 26, 2009
30-yr 4.85 15-yr 4.58 5-yr ARM 4.96 1-yr ARM 4.85
One thing to note with mortgage rates is that although we are near all time lows banks are quite restrictive about who they are giving loans to. So although rates are low they are not available to a large segment of the population. This is different than 2002 the other low point in mortgage rates when lending standards were notoriously
lax.
In addition to mortgage rates we calculated out mortgage payments for a 200k loan. First we looked we translated today's rates. Then we looked at rates from a week ago and rates from October 23.
Apr 23
30-yr $1049.33
15-yr $1527.94
5-yr ARM $1055.38
1-yr ARM $1051.74
Apr 16
30-yr $1051.74
15-yr $1527.94
5-yr ARM $1059.02
1-yr ARM $1062.66
Oct 23
30-yr $1204.24
15-yr $1657.6
5-yr ARM $1206.82
1-yr ARM $1101.93
As we can see mortgage rates and mortgage payments hardly moved in the last week. But we can see substantial drops from October 23. A mortgage payment on a 200k house has dropped $154.91 or 12.86 percent compared to what it would have been 6 months ago.
So what is our advice for people looking to purchase in the next few months? First of all I would start talking to lenders early on in their home search. If any problems surface with your credit report you have time to fix them and raise your credit score. Also if you fall in the myriad number of cases where lenders will not give out loans you have time to search for different banks that could give you a loan.
We also expect rates will stay down for the next month or so but we don't see mortgage rates falling much more. When the economy recovers we expect rates to rise rapidly. So potential borrowers should probably look to push up their purchase plans before rates start to rise.
Apr 23, 2009
30-yr 4.80 15-yr 4.48 5-yr ARM 4.85 1-yr ARM 4.82
Apr 16, 2009
30-yr 4.82 15-yr 4.48 5-yr ARM 4.88 1-yr ARM 4.91
Apr 09, 2009
30-yr 4.87 15-yr 4.54 5-yr ARM 4.93 1-yr ARM 4.83
Apr 02, 2009
30-yr 4.78 15-yr 4.52 5-yr ARM 4.92 1-yr ARM 4.75
Mar 26, 2009
30-yr 4.85 15-yr 4.58 5-yr ARM 4.96 1-yr ARM 4.85
One thing to note with mortgage rates is that although we are near all time lows banks are quite restrictive about who they are giving loans to. So although rates are low they are not available to a large segment of the population. This is different than 2002 the other low point in mortgage rates when lending standards were notoriously
In addition to mortgage rates we calculated out mortgage payments for a 200k loan. First we looked we translated today's rates. Then we looked at rates from a week ago and rates from October 23.
Apr 23
30-yr $1049.33
15-yr $1527.94
5-yr ARM $1055.38
1-yr ARM $1051.74
Apr 16
30-yr $1051.74
15-yr $1527.94
5-yr ARM $1059.02
1-yr ARM $1062.66
Oct 23
30-yr $1204.24
15-yr $1657.6
5-yr ARM $1206.82
1-yr ARM $1101.93
As we can see mortgage rates and mortgage payments hardly moved in the last week. But we can see substantial drops from October 23. A mortgage payment on a 200k house has dropped $154.91 or 12.86 percent compared to what it would have been 6 months ago.
So what is our advice for people looking to purchase in the next few months? First of all I would start talking to lenders early on in their home search. If any problems surface with your credit report you have time to fix them and raise your credit score. Also if you fall in the myriad number of cases where lenders will not give out loans you have time to search for different banks that could give you a loan.
We also expect rates will stay down for the next month or so but we don't see mortgage rates falling much more. When the economy recovers we expect rates to rise rapidly. So potential borrowers should probably look to push up their purchase plans before rates start to rise.
Ki Gray
Ki has lived in Austin for over a decade. He works in the Austin Tx real estate market. His site provides a free mortgage calculator along with updated information on mortgage rates.
View all articles by Ki Gray