Your home’s mortgage payment is based on the price of the home (minus the down payment), and the interest rate for the loan.
Both prices and interest rates will likely rise in 2016.
Home Prices
CoreLogic anticipates a national 5.2% home value increase for the next year. The percentage varies by state, with WA, CA, NV, UT, AZ, NM, FL, and VT seeing the greatest increase at an average of 7.6% (the highest being CA at 10.8%, the lowest of this group being NM at 6.0%). The lowest forecasted home price increase is WV at 1.3%. Clearly, the majority of the country is projected to see a real home value appreciation that outpaces currency inflation (0.5% from 2014-2015).
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Mortgage Interest Rates
All four establishments who provide future projections on mortgage interest rates agree that rates will rise in 2016. The following table shows the change for each quarter of the next year.
Quarter | Fannie Mae |
Freddie Mac |
MBA | NAR | Average of all four |
2016 1Q | 3.9 | 4.0 | 4.2 | 4.1 | 4.05 |
2016 2Q | 4.0 | 4.2 | 4.4 | 4.3 | 4.23 |
2016 3Q | 4.0 | 4.4 | 4.6 | 4.6 | 4.4 |
2016 4Q | 4.1 | 4.6 | 4.8 | 4.9 | 4.6 |
So, What’s the Bottom Line?
Since home prices and interest rates expected to increase over the next year, it makes sense to buy sooner rather than later, if you are buying a new home.