I am often asked about which direction interest rates are heading, both in the short term and long term. The truthful answer is that I haven’t got a clue. Sure, over the long term I expect that they will rise. But the real estate industry (both brokers and lenders) have been claiming for years that the “historical low rates” will be rising soon. The average 30-year mortgage has been under 5% for about five years so I think everyone is a little tone deaf to that line. A year ago, I think most everyone was predicting higher rates in 2015. Guess what? As I write this, the rate is below this time last year. There is so much to consider when predicting what mortgage rates will do that I don’t try to predict what will happen. However, there are certainly people who do. Below is a chart of what some of the leading real estate economists think is in store for interest rates over the next year for the 30-year fixed rate mortgage. Rates are currently around 4.00%.
Information courtesy of Steve Harney of Keeping Current Matters.
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