The lowest mortgage interest rates ever seen in the U.S. will likely spur another wave of refinances as homeowners chase the chance of a lifetime to lock in a rate under 3%.
Rates fell to an average of just 2.98% for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages in the week ending July 16, according to Freddie Mac. Rates have never dipped below 3% in the nearly 50 years that Freddie Mac has been tracking them.
“We’ll see a pickup in refinance interest as a result of mortgage rates hitting fresh record lows, despite the refi boom we saw earlier,” says realtor.com® Chief Economist Danielle Hale. “Every move lower in mortgage rates opens the door for some homeowners where it now makes financial sense for them to refinance.”
With the highest unemployment since the Great Depression, many folks are looking at ways to cut costs. Moving to a lower rate has the potential to save folks hundreds of dollars a month on their mortgage payments—a particularly appealing proposition in the middle of a recession. It could also save them tens of thousands of dollars over the life of their loan. The exact amount depends on the size and length of their mortgage as well as what their lender is offering.
A refinance boom overwhelmed many lenders in early March, when rates initially fell into the low 3% range as a result of the coronavirus playing havoc with the U.S. economy. Some lenders responded by actually raising their rates to beat back the hordes of homeowners submitting refinance applications. They’ve since dropped, and demand has remained consistently high since March.