Last December, the monthly mortgage rate for 30-year mortgages (conventional, conforming) was 3.96%, the lowest Freddie Mac has reported since it began keeping track in 1971. A year earlier, in December 2010, the comparable rate was 4.71%. You can access Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey Archives online here:
The archives contain weekly, monthly and annual historic data for fixed (15-year and 30-year) and adjustable rate mortgages. They will help you show clients today's historic opportunity to refinance an existing mortgage at lower rates, thus freeing up more cash flow for investment or insurance.
Recommended For You
Freddie Mac says that refinancing accounted for 78% of its single-family mortgage origination volume in 2011, and the average borrower who refinanced last year saved $2,700 in interest payments annually. If you could convert $2,700 into new investment or cash value growth over the next 20 years, compounded at 5% after-tax, it would hypothetically grow to $92,867.
With lower rates, the savings from refinancing should be even greater in 2012 than in 2011.
© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
