Thanksgiving Marks the Rise in Mortgage Rates

We are sure that many of you would have been huddled in the cold, waiting for your favorite stores to open on Black Friday. Those who prefer to shop from the comfort of their homes, would have looked forward to Cyber Monday. However, did any of you go shopping for a new home loan? This maybe the right time to lock in your mortgage rate, because as seen in the past years, the rates tend to increase after Thanksgiving.

As tradition has it, mortgage rates of all types inched higher this year too, increasing from Freddie Mac’s 3.31%. FHA mortgage insurance premiums are also expected to increase for new loans in 2013.

This year has seen all time low rates for both the 30-year and 15-year mortgages. Of course, this is a boon for homebuyers, whose purchasing power has increased by 26% since 2011. According to CNN Money, buyers spent $423/shopper this weekend, compared to $398 last year. This marks the start of the holiday shopping season and brings in signs of a recovering economy.

Experts say that the rates will continue to rise, especially because along with increased holiday sales, the European crisis also seems to be resolving. So if you were looking to refinance or plan to take new loans, this would be the time to close on a fixed rate because this upward trend usually lasts from October to March.