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$241 A Month: The Difference A Year Makes In Interest Rates

  • December 5th 2025

by UrbanTurf Staff

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Mortgage rate chart_12-04-25.png

Long-term mortgage rates, while still high compared to several years ago, have dropped notably since late 2024. So today, UrbanTurf is taking a look to see how current rates are impacting mortgage payments compared to a year ago.

We took a home with an $900,000 purchase price and assumed the buyer has excellent credit. Using current rates and rates from last December, we examined how monthly mortgage payments changed. In each case, we assumed the buyer put down a 20 percent down payment. Note that these include principal and interest, but not the cost of insurance or taxes.

Here are the two scenarios:

December 2024: The average mortgage rate was 6.7 percent.

Monthly mortgage payment: $4,646
Total outlay on mortgage (monthly payment x 360 months): $1,672,561

December 2025: The average mortgage rate is 6.19 percent.

Monthly mortgage payment: $4,405
Total outlay on mortgage (monthly payment x 360 months): $1,585,834

So, the difference between rates is $241 a month or about $86,727 over the life of the loan.

See other articles related to: mortgage rates

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/241_a_month_the_difference_a_year_makes_in_interest_rates/24134.

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