Mortgage Rates to Climb in 2010.

I read this today and I do agree. It is no secret that money has been exceptionally cheap this year, provided you can qualify for a loan. Rates this low have not been common for half a century. But, according to a recent article in the New York Times, today’s “super-low rates are not likely to last much longer.” You will be excused for thinking you might have heard this before, as commentators have been making predictions almost identical to this since at least March of 2009. Indeed, I’ve personally been somewhat surprised how long sub 5% rates have persisted in the market, largely as a consequence of the Obama adminstration’s extraordinarily loose money supply policies.

However, if you’ve been sitting on the fence on a new acquisition or refinancing of an existing property, you might want to (finally) sit up and take notice. As the New York Times indicated, there are signs that the Fed is planning a serious change of course that may have profound consequences for the credit market. The Times wrote that the “the Federal Reserve program that has driven rates to such lows, which involves buying $1.25 trillion in mortgage-backed securities, is scheduled to expire in March, and Fed leaders have said that it would not be renewed. Some analysts believe rates could jump as high as 6 percent in the spring.”