Freddie Mac launched a new blog today.
And in the spirit of the new venture, Freddie posted four pieces of content.
One introduces the blog, another walks first-time homeowners through the mortgage-approval process, and yet another discusses the multi-trillion apartment market.
A final blog post covers the cost of buying a home, via mortgage debt.
That post reveals, that while the cost of homebuying is going up, it's still very affordable when compared to three decades ago:
The same home you considered buying a year ago with a $200,000 mortgage would now cost about $90 more in interest payments per month, or about $1,080 per year, given the rise in mortgage rates since last year. But let's put this increase into perspective – and take the long view.
One thing seems certain: we aren't likely to see average 30-year fixed mortgage rates return to the historic lows experienced in 2012. The all-time record low – since Freddie Mac began tracking mortgage rates in 1971 – was 3.31% in November 2012. Conversely, the all-time record high occurred in October of 1981, hitting 18.63%. That's more than four times higher than today's average 30-year fixed rate of 4.32% as of March 20.