Even if you don’t fully understand these concepts, you still stand to get a good rate on your home loan. In challenging markets with changing interest rates, however, it helps to know the basics so you can look out for your own financial welfare.
How Bonds Affect Mortgage Rates
Contrary to popular belief, mortgage rates are not based on the 10-year Treasury note. They’re based on the bond market, meaning mortgage bonds or mortgage-backed securities. When shopping for a new home loan, many people jump online to see how the 10-year Treasury note is doing, but in reality, mortgage-backed securities drive the fluctuations in mortgage rates. Mortgage-backed securities are mortgage loans packaged into groups or bundles of securities and then sold in the bond market. The price of these bundled debt securities is driven by national and global news events, which also affect individual mortgage rates. The graph below illustrates the 30-year fixed mortgage rate average from 2000 through today:
How the Fed’s Actions Affect Mortgage Rates
When the Fed cuts interest rates, especially by a large or repeated percentage-point drop, people automatically assume that mortgage rates will fall. But if you follow mortgage rates, you will see that most of the time, the rates fall very slowly, if at all. Historically, when the Feds have dramatically cut rates, mortgage rates remain almost identical to the rates established months before the cut as they do months after the cut. The Fed’s moves aren’t totally irrelevant, though. They tend to have a delayed and indirect impact on home loan rates. For example, when investors worry about inflation, this concern will push rates up. When Congress wants to stimulate action and raise money for a deficit, it will create more U.S. Treasuries for folks to buy. This added supply of new Treasuries can also cause mortgage rates to move higher. Even more crucial is when a buyer is in the process of making a decision whether to lock a loan just before a Fed rate cut. Say a buyer is in a contract and is thinking the Fed is going to lower rates next week. The buyer might be tempted to wait before locking the loan—big mistake. When the Fed makes that big drop, say by 50 basis points or more, it actually can cause 30-year-fixed rates to initially spike. But then over time the rates generally level out or regain their losses—depending, of course, upon current market trends. So, if a buyer is within three weeks of closing before an anticipated Fed cut, it’s usually recommended to lock in ahead of the Fed rate cut to protect that original good interest rate.
Understanding APR
You’ll likely see APR any time you’re looking at mortgage rates. APR stands for “annual percentage rate.” It’s the interest rate that’s applied to your monthly mortgage payment, plus additional fees. Say your monthly house payment has an interest rate of 4.75%, but your loan’s APR is 5%. The difference is due to upfront or ongoing fees.
Calculating a Mortgage Rate
Interest rates on home loans are built up using an index based on the current market, such as the bond market, and a markup that represents the lender’s profit. If you’re looking at published rates, note that they tend to represent an average, and you may find that rates in your specific geographical area vary. If you have a great credit score, it’s much less likely statistically that you’ll default on your loan, so you’ll get a lower interest rate. If you have a lower credit score, your lender will want more interest to compensate for the additional risk of you defaulting on the loan, so you’ll have to pay a higher interest rate. Use the mortgage rate calculator below to get a sense of what your monthly payment could end up being. What really matters is how mortgage interest rates affect you when it’s time to buy. Remember that your interest rate (high or low) is different from your APR. You want there to be as small a gap between your interest rate and APR as possible, as a bigger gap indicates more rolled into the loan.And while you’re shopping for a loan, remember that rates you see are often an average or a rock-bottom rate offered only to those with excellent credit, income, and debt metrics.
