There are three key facts to note about current interest rates. These facts are based on the data the Federal Reserve has published on the internet for the period from April 1971 to February 2007. The statistics are for 30-year fixed mortgages.
1/ The average interest rate over that period was 9.26%. The median was 8.75%.
2/ During that period of 431 months, interest rates were higher than they were in February 2007 for 386 of them (89.5% of the time).
3/ The only period in the last 26 years when mortgage rates were lower than February 2007 was between September 2002 and October 2005.
So if people say that "mortgage rates are at historic lows" without exclamation points, it's an accurate statement for at least the last 36 years.
(c) Steve Leung for the Silicon Valley Real Estate Blog at 1SiliconValley.com
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