Time May Be Running Out on Getting a Low-Interest Mortgage

Buyers appear to be getting “off the fence” as they see mortgage rates beginning to rise. How costly can waiting be?

     Even a fraction of a percentage point rise quickly adds up. According to realtor.com, on a $300,000 purchase with a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage and a 20% down payment, the difference between 4% and 5% is $142 a month. That’s more than $51,000 over the life of the mortgage.

According to the realtor.com article, it’s important to note that mortgage rates are still low. After falling from a high of 18.63% on Oct. 9, 1981 they averaged about 7% from the 1990s through the 2008 financial crisis.  They dropped below 5% for the first time in March 2009, before bottoming out at 3.1% on Nov. 21, 2012.

After those recent historic lows, average mortgage rates have now reached their highest levels in more than four years. They hit an average 4.43% for 30-year, fixed-rate loans as of March 1, according to data from Freddie Mac. This is the highest they’ve been since Jan. 9, 2014, when they averaged 4.51%.

Author: Golden Real Estate, Inc.

Golden Real Estate is a prominent member of the Denver/Jefferson County real estate scene. Based in Golden, we service both Denver and Jeffco, representing both buyers and sellers. We're well known for Broker Jim Smith's weekly "Real Estate Today" column published in the Denver and Jeffco editions of the Denver Post's YourHub section each Thursday. The column also appears in several weekly newspapers and is archived at www.JimSmithColumns.com. We have nine agents, all of whom are Realtors and EcoBrokers. Our office is Net Zero Energy since December 2017, and several of us drive electrics cars. Known for our sustainable practices, we accept polystyrene (aka "Styrofoam") for recycling, keeping 200 cubic yards per year out of area landfills. View all posts by Golden Real Estate, Inc.