Last year’s 3.5% mortgage rates are long gone — and experts say consumers who hold off buying or refinancing homes in hopes that sub-4% interest levels will return could miss out on today’s sub-5% rates, too.
“We think 3.5% rates are in the rearview mirror now,” says Mike Fratantoni, chief economist at the Mortgage Bankers Association. “It’s highly unlikely that we’re going to get back to those levels again.”
Benchmark U.S. mortgage rates hit a record-low of around 3.5% in late 2012 and early 2013 as the Federal Reserve’s Quantitative Easing III program helped push long-term interest rates into the cellar. Under QE3, the central bank had been buying $85 billion of Treasury bonds and mortgage-backed securities each month in a bid to drive rates on mortgages and other long-term debt down. Read More.

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As existing-home sales and home prices make remarkable strides upward nationwide, remodeling projects are also continuing to make a comeback in a big way.

This is the second year in a row that all 35 projects in Remodeling Magazine’s Cost vs. Value Report saw more home improvement dollars recouped upon resale of a home than the previous year. Read More

Construction cost estimates were generated by RemodelMAX. Cost vs. Value is a registered trademark of Hanley Wood, LLC.