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Interest Rates through the Years

Reblogger
Real Estate Agent with House Sale Advisors

Geri Wehry from Covington Washington wrote this great article about interest rates over the years.  This is a great perspective on what is happening with todays home buying market.  Buyers who are considering buying within the next few years should be moving NOW!  The only thing we know for sure in that interest rates ARE GOING UP in the future.  

Original content by geri wehry

 

Interest Rates through the Years

 

I am going to tip my hand pretty quick here, and give away my age.  But I was recently talking to a client's father and we were reminiscing about what kinds of interest rates we have paid on various homes we have owned throughout our lives. 

We both bought our first homes in the mid 80's when interest rates were in the double digits.  When my husband and I purchased our first home in 1985 interest rates averaged 12.43%.  However they were on the way down - in 1981 they had been averaging 16.63%!  Wow, that certainly affected your buying power.

 

We bought our next home in 1990 and were excited to get a rate just under 10%!!  Woo Hoo, we thought we had won the lottery.  And just a few years later we were able to refinance that home into a 15 year mortgage in the mid 7's.  Life was looking good.

The last few years have seen some historically LOW interest rates - certainly rates that when I first began this journey we call life I never thought I'd see.  They look to be on the rise, but are certainly still quite amazing.  Below is a chart of where they have been over the past 40-ish years.  If you are looking to buy, interest rate wise you certainly can't pick a better time.

 

 

Year Rate
1972 7.38
1973 8.04
1974 9.19
1975 9.05
1976 8.87
1977 8.85
1978 9.64
1979 11.2
1980 13.74
1981 16.63
1982 16.04
1983 13.24
1984 13.88
1985 12.43
1986 10.19
1987 10.21
1988 10.34
1989 10.32
1990 10.13
1991 9.25
1992 8.39
1993 7.31
1994 8.38
1995 7.93
1996 7.81
1997 7.6
1998 6.94
1999 7.44
2000 8.05
2001 6.97
2002 6.54
2003 5.83
2004 5.84
2005 5.87
2006 6.41
2007 6.34
2008 6.03
2009 5.04

 

Comments (1)

Joy Daniels
Joy Daniels Real Estate Group, Ltd. - Harrisburg, PA

Another good repost. . . Good information to share with our Buyer clients.

Jan 31, 2011 01:25 PM