Charleston mortgage rates start to rise
... so is the party over.
After falling all summer to record low rates, mortgage rates have risen slightly for two consecutive weeks due to stronger than expected economic data. I'm personally not sure the data was all that strong but because expectations of economists are so often incorrect, the data turned out to be stronger than expected. I say that only because these same characters were surprised when housing sales slumped more than expected after the expiration of the home buyer tax credit.
By the way, just a slight rise still means that mortgage rates for a 30 year fixed rate loan are still in the low 4's so whether you are buying or refinancing, these rates are still historically low and that means you can either buy a little more house for the money or lower your monthly payment if you are refinancing from a higher rate.
The above chart is courtesy of Bankrate and tracks the average national rate, most mortgage quotes in the Charleston real estate market have been solidly quoted at 4.25 percent for a while.
And as an example, a $200,000 loan at 4.25 percent has a payment of $983.88 and the same loan at 5 percent has a payment of $1073.64 or about $90 more per month.