Alan Greenspan said interest rates can't stay low forever, and at the end of this week they weren't. The 30-year fixed rate mortgage ended the week with an average of 5.94 percent, up from 5.89 percent last week. Makes you miss those good old days when they were just 5.25 percent doesn't it?
In spite of the increased rates, sales aren't slowing. My inbox is still filled with home and condo search requests from interested buyers.
Rates could be worse. They could be 7-8 percent, which they could easily become again if the Fed wants to increase rates to fend off inflation.
The mortgage with the lower rate average is the 15-year fixed. It ended the week with an average of 5.25 percent, up slightly from 5.23. Not bad.
As rates go up, I don't foresee sales slowing too much, initially, and for seller's markets like Florida's Tampa Bay area, I don't foresee them slowing at all. I do think that there will be less first-time home buyers once rates reach a certain level, as 100-percent financing programs could eventually become too expensive to afford.
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