NEW YORK–Mortgage analysts are saying Americans should prepare for rates to rise. That’s a big change after month after month in which the words “historic lows” were used to describe the ongoing decline in mortgage rates.
Bankrate is reporting that those surveyed as part of its weekly mortgage rate trend index are seldom unanimous in their forecasts, the most recent edition “may be as close as it gets. Nearly all of the respondents said they expect rates to rise next week, with just one lone dissenter in the mix of 12.”
Among the predictions compiled by Bankrate:
- “The excellent news about the COVID-19 gives optimism toward economic normalcy. Rates are headed higher this week,” said Jeff Lazerson, president at MortgageGrader.
- “Up, for sure,” said Mitch Ohlbaum, a mortgage banker at Macoy Capital Partners in Los Angeles. “The 10 year Treasury jumped to .979%, which is still very low but we have not seen anything close to this since March 19 when we hit 1.15%. There is no telling where rates will go for the rest of the year but all markets certainly got an optimism bump from the election (the market loves certainty) and from the news that it is very likely that we will see a vaccination early in 2021.”
While it’s unclear what the medium-term outlook is, it’s unlikely that mortgage interest will stay historically low forever, reminded Bankrate, adding borrowers shouldn’t worry about missing out on low rates any time soon.
‘Glass Half Full’
“Rates have bumped up due to the ‘glass half full’ outlook on a vaccine and the economy, but – and this is worth emphasizing – rates are still really, really low,” said Greg McBride, Bankrate’s chief financial analyst. “No need to freak out, thinking you’ve missed the refinancing window. You haven’t.”