Home | Newsletter | Advertise
loading...

Rates Come Back Down, Bringing Consumers Off the Fence

  • July 15th 2009

by Will Smith

✉️ Want to forward this article? Click here.

For those kicking themselves for not locking in a mortgage rate a few months ago when rates dipped below 5 percent, last week’s big drop in rates might be a lucky second chance. They are still not as low as they were, but at just above 5 percent they are extremely low by any standard.

The dip in rates encouraged a lot of consumers last week to pull the trigger on securing a loan or refinancing, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association, which releases a weekly report on mortgage application volume. Refinancing activity in particular was up, popping almost 18 percent week-over-week.

MBA noted that the average rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage dropped from 5.34 percent the week before last to 5.05 last week. To understand how much of a difference that can make to your personal finances, take a look at the table below which compares the monthly payments at both rates for various mortgage amounts:

MortgagePayment/month
at 5.05%		Payment/month
at 5.34%		Monthly
difference
$200,000$1,080$1,116$36
$300,000$1,620$1,673$53
$400,000$2,160$2,231$71
$500,000$2,699$2,789$90

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/rates_come_back_down_bringing_consumers_off_the_fence/1136.

DC Real Estate Guides

Short guides to navigating the DC-area real estate market

We've collected all our helpful guides for buying, selling and renting in and around Washington, DC in one place. Start browsing below!

First-Timer Primers

Intro guides for first-time home buyers

Red Flags Revealed During a Home Inspection Top 5 Tax Breaks For Homeowners Tax Relief for DC Homeowners
Condo Fee Tutorial What is a Rent Back? 10 Ways To Tell If a Home Renovation is Well Done
Obtaining a Basic Business License For Your Rental What is an Adjustable Rate Mortgage? The Splitting the Rent Formula
How Much Cash Do You Need to Buy a House? Is This Condo Building Financially Healthy? Interest Rates and Mortgage Points
The Scoop on Mortgage Insurance

Unique Spaces

Awesome and unusual real estate from across the DC Metro

The Most Intriguing Loft in DC The R Street Firehouse DC’s One-Room House
Dupont Circle’s Old Frat House To Become Alley Home Best Transition From a Garage To a Home The Roundhouse
Tilden Gardens Restaurant-Turned-Home Hits Market Next Week Logan Circle’s Most Intriguing Garage Frank Lloyd Wright Goes Green in Kensington
Sears Bungalow Gets a Modern Makeover Old Town General Store Becomes Three-Level Home Making the Most of a Skinny House
A Studio 27 Renovation on Capitol Hill Once a Carriage House, Now a Home The Bank that Became a Home
From Pie to Hooch to Heroin to Home The Live-Aboards of Gangplank Marina A Treehouse with Rock Creek Park As A Backyard
Modern Tranquility in Sperryville Saddle Up For Stable Living Throwing a Curve at 550 Square Feet
A Modern Hilltop Retreat Tilden Street Restaurant Becomes Spacious Home Focus on Design: A Vastu Unit at 22 West
The DC Area’s First Net Zero Home A Yankee Goes Green DC’s First Carbon Neutral Home
Eco-Friendly Alley House Off H Street The Gym, The Stables and The Firehouse