Today's 30-year mortgage rate cracked 4%

[SonofBen]

On Wednesday, February 16, 2022, the national average 30-year fixed mortgage APR is 4.190%. The average 30-year refinance APR is 4.200%, according to Bankrate’s latest survey of the nation’s largest mortgage lenders.

A 1% increase reduces purchasing power by ~12%.

https://www.bankrate.com/mortgages/30-year-mortgage-rates/?mortgageType=Purchase&partnerId=br3&pid=br3&pointsChanged=false&purchaseDownPayment=78720&purchaseLoanTerms=30yr&purchasePoints=All&purchasePrice=393600&purchasePropertyType=SingleFamily&purchasePropertyUse=PrimaryResidence&searchChanged=false&showingStacked=true&ttcid&userCreditScore=740&userFha=false&userVeteranStatus=NoMilitaryService&zipCode=85013

[Scrivener7]

1. For perspective, my first mortgage was 7%. We have had historically low

rates for a long time. They seem normal to us, but they're not.

[Demovictory9]

21. my first was 6.5%... huge difference on payments to rate in the 3s.

[Scrivener7]

23. My last mortgage was 2.875.

Nice!

[PSPS]

2. Actually, a higher interest rate would do a lot to bring the real estate market back into balance.

[JohnSJ]

5. I think that will depend on the area. In the SF bay area, I don't think it will affect prices too

much, but other places in the country, absolutely.

Also, it might curb the dealers asking more than MSRP on cars, and that would also be a good thing

[JohnSJ]

3. I remember when 9.75% was considered a good rate.

[bottomofthehill]

4. My first mortgage rate was 11.75 percent.

4 looks like a bargain. There is a cost to borrowing money. Hopefully we never see those rates again. Back then you could not only write off your 12% mortgage, you could write off your 25% credit card interest rate.

[JohnSJ]

7. Exactly. You hit right when Paul Volker was there

[bottomofthehill]

16. Close but early Greenspan.

I could not afford much of a house, so my mortgage was small and there was a slight bump I interest rate as mine was considered a nuisance mortgage below $50,000 dollars.

[JohnSJ]

30. Interesting, thanks. My first mortgage was with Crocker Bank in California, no longer around, and

was 9.75%

Of coursing compared to now hosing prices were considerably less than. Now, especially in the Bay Area it is through the roof

[beaglelover]

6. Glad I refinanced last year to 2.75%!

Phew!

[madinmaryland]

17. I took out a mortgage last summer at 2.5% fixed for 15 years.

Glad we did it when we did!

[beaglelover]

19. Congrats!!

[Demovictory9]

22. nice!

[True Dough]

8. 4% is still on the low side, historically

If I recall correctly, around 6% is the mean. I stand to be corrected on that, however.

[Pas-de-Calais]

9. Won't stop the refi commercials though

[True Dough]

10. Here's a long-term mortgage rate chart

[CentralMass]

11. Fawk, I just started looking.

[mahina]

13. I have to refi and put it off in Dec

Was too busy
💧
Alas

[PortTack]

12. Hopefully it will help stop corporations from buying up all available homes

It would be even better if it went higher. The greedy corporations need to be pushed out of the market

[former9thward]

28. Exact opposite.

Corporations are not getting mortgages. They pay cash for houses. It is the average person that needs a mortgage to get a house.

[JT45242]

14. Still better than most of my lifetime...

When I bought my current home about 9 years ago I was thrilled at 3.75% and thought I would never refi. I did a little over a year ago at 2.75% and told the loan officer that I couldn't believe that I was actually refinancing a loan with an interest rate under 4% to begin with.

My first home loan was at 7% around 2000 -- which was real close to the historic average.

It may reign in some crazy price increases where there is inventory -- but in many places it will just mean that more people rent longer.

Until zoning boards and local governments require new construction to include some affordable units in addition to the high profit McManshions -- the houseing crunch will be very tough for young adults.

[Torchlight]

15. For perspective-- 1971 when the annual average was 7%

and they moved up steadily until they were at 9.19% in 1974. They briefly dipped down into the mid- to high-8% range before climbing to 11% in 1979. This was during a period of high inflation that hit its peak early in the next decade.

Interest rates reached their highest point in modern history in 1981 when the annual average was 16.6%

Not until 1998 (or 99?) did the rates dip back down below 7%. Housing crash of 2008 forced rates to dip again. Covid also caused rates to drop recently (.5 to 1.5% depending on source cited).

Perspective and context are necessary, if not convenient beasts of burden.

[roamer65]

18. Still below the inflation rate.

Cheap money.

[Liberal In Texas]

20. I'm hoping higher mortgage rates will slow down the tear-down rebuilding

going on in my small house neighborhood. One house torn down on a double lot was subdivided into 2 and the builder/realtor is selling them for $1.2 million each. This is ridiculous in this neighborhood. In 2001 I paid around $125K for our house and supposedly we're up to $300K now.

[mnhtnbb]

24. Up and down and up they go

I paid 16.5% on the mortgage for my townhouse in Woodland Hills, CA in the early '80's.

Last year I bought a new house in Durham, NC with a 15 year mortgage at 2.3%. This is my last house.

[Hekate]

25. My bank savings rate is close to Zero, & has been since mortgage rates went to 1%. ......

That’s the other end of the see-saw, just so you know.

For more historical perspective, my first mortgage was a variable rate 11% to 16%. My sister’s first was 18%. Thank whatever gods you have that yours is not.

For comparison, our parents bought a 2BR starter home in 1948 or ‘49 with an interest rate of about 5%, or maybe it was 4% and a bit.

In any case, contemplating the disparity just about made Sis and me sick, but we and our husbands each had a job and each put our backs into paying our respective debt down.

1% mortgage rate is an anomaly of historic proportions. It absolutely means the savings we worked so hard for might as well be stored in an old sock, for all the near-Zero interest it’s earning.

All I can say is I’m shocked if you're shocked at a 4.2% mortgage rate.

[WarGamer]

26. This is how you fight inflation...

It's a double edged sword.

Hot economy = Inflation...

Tepid economy = price competition

Just wait until the Housing Bubble pops a la 2008

[BlueIdaho]

27. When interest rates go up

Housing prices go down. The market moves on…

[helpisontheway]

29. Our first mortgage was 6.5%. Our current mortgage is 2.625%..

Glad we have such a low rate.