BuyingaHome Spring 2017

RATE
HOW LOW INTEREST RATES INCREASE YOUR
PURCHASING POWER
According to Freddie Mac’s latest Primary Mortgage Market Survey, interest rates for a
30-year fixed rate mortgage are currently around 4%, which is still very low in
comparison to recent history!
The interest rate you secure when buying a home not only greatly impacts your monthly
housing costs, but also impacts your purchasing power.
Purchasing power, simply put, is the amount of home you can afford to buy for the
budget you have available to spend. As rates increase, the price of the house you can
afford will decrease if you plan to stay within a certain monthly housing budget.
The chart below shows what impact rising interest rates would have if you planned to
purchase a home within the national median price range, and planned to keep your
principal and interest payments at or about $1,100 a month.
Buyer’s Purchasing Power
4.75 $ 1,304 $ 1,272 $ 1,239 $ 1,206 $ 1,174
4.50 $ 1,267 $ 1,235 $ 1,203 $ 1,172 $ 1,140
4.25 $ 1,230 $ 1,199 $ 1,168 $ 1,138 $ 1,107
4.00 $ 1,194 $ 1,164 $ 1,134 $ 1,104 $ 1,074
3.75 $ 1,158 $ 1,129 $ 1,099 $ 1,071 $ 1,042
3.50 $ 1,123 $ 1,095 $ 1,066 $ 1,038 $ 1,010
3.25 $ 1,088 $ 1,061 $ 1,034 $ 1,006 $ 979
$ 250,000 $ 243,750 $ 237,500 $ 231,250 $ 225,000
-2.5% -5% -7.5% -10%
Principal and Interest Payments
rounded to the nearest dollar amount.
With each quarter of a percent increase in interest rate, the value of the home you can
afford decreases by 2.5%, (in this example, $6,250). Experts predict that mortgage rates
will be closer to 5% by this time next year.
Act now to get the most house for your hard-earned money.
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