FRAMINGHAM, MA — The cost of everything from home heating fuel, to gasoline, food and other commodity items have been on the rise. Several economic indicators have hit records in the past year or two — and for those who have been on the fence in regards to buying a home in the past year, the bad news in that the 30-Year Fixed Rate mortgage increased more than 46% in the past year.

Since the mid-1970’s the 30-Year Fixed Mortgage rate was typically in the 6% to 10% range. There was spike and a record high of 18.63% in October of 1981 when the Federal Reserve used rate hikes to cool off runaway inflation and high consumer prices, a record low of 2.65% in January of 2021 was the result of already low interest rates combined with a global pandemic that shut global supply chains and stalled economic growth.

While this is huge increase percentage-wise, the reality is that mortgage rates are still historically low with the Monday April 11, 2022 average 30-Year Fixed Mortgage Rates at 5.25%, 198 basis points higher than the 3.27% rate a year earlier.

While most are sure the Fed will stick with it’s plan of raising interest rates to cool off inflation, some potential buyers may be hesitant to sign a mortgage that will cost them another couple hundred dollars per month than they budgeted for a year ago.

For every 1% in increase in the interest rate on a $500,000 mortgage, the home buyer will spend approximately $100,000 more in interest over those 30 years — that’s an additional $275 per month.

With low interest rates, inventory of available single family homes in Framingham, MA USA has been very thin, with less than 30 single family homes listed for sale on Realtor.com, and many of them already marked as pending or contingent sales within days of coming on the market.

Still, with a nationwide shortage of available housing stock and the desirability of eastern Massachusetts property may preserve the value of homes in the region. Experts predict it may take two years before new single family homes supply is on par with demand.

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