Interest Rates: The Difference 30 Years Makes

by Mark Wellborn

It is hard to believe, but true. Interest rates for 30-year mortgages back in the early 1980s were triple what they are today. Tom O’Keefe of Prosperity Mortgage in Chevy Chase DC has compiled a pretty amazing chart that maps interest rates going back to 1980, which gives a great visual perspective of how rates have changed in the last thirty years. The full chart is below.

image

3 Comments

  1. benji said at 12:36 pm on Wednesday July 22, 2009:

    It is pretty incredible that rates were as high as 16%. Granted that was in 1980 dollars, but still crazy.

  1. PleasantPlainer said at 10:27 am on Thursday July 23, 2009:

    They should also include prices (which would be a mirror of this), perhaps income, and some other metrics that would give a more complete picture.

  1. Alex said at 6:19 am on Tuesday July 28, 2009:

    It doesn’t matter whether it’s 1980 dollars or 2009 dollars, since it’s a rate it’s equally crazy now or then.  That peak was short lived but sparked a huge recession (but finally killed off stagflation).

    the more interesting thing to me is the strong overall downward trend over the last 30 years.  I’d be interested to know what explains that, or what that means for the future.

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