It seems you can’t turn on the TV or radio these days without hearing about the doom and gloom of the housing market. Well in this post, I’d like to focus on the positive. The graph below shows the average interest rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage since 1972.

GREAT NEWS: rates are the lowest they’ve been in a long long time! Unlike what you hear on the news, there is money out there- and buyers are getting approved for financing everyday. So what exactly does a low rate mean to you? Well, a 1/2% in rate = about $6k more in sales price you can afford per $100,000. Again, great news!

But please also note, buyers waiting for rates to drop even further may miss out. Home loan rates have benefited from the weakness in the financial markets. However, the Fed just lowered the Federal Funds Rate and Discount Rate by 0.50%. In an unprecedented emergency move, central banks across the globe joined in lowering interest rates. This could cause home loan rates to rise in the coming weeks and months if confidence returns to the stock markets.

Thank you JD Terry of East Carolina Bank for providing this data. Feel free to call him anytime with questions about the market: 910-799-4106.

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 9th, 2008 at 5:42 pm and is filed under News, Mortgage. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.