The nation’s most closely-watched mortgage rate, the 30-year fixed, climbed two basis points this week to 4.31%. The 15-year fixed rate mortgage, a popular option for homeowners refinancing, increased just one basis point to 3.49%.
And while it’s impossible to predict rates with any scientific certainty, mortgage experts believe that rates will likely continue to rise. According to a recent article from The Mortgage Reports, the majority of lending officials believe rates will climb slowly and steadily. Explains mortgage banking professor J. Keith Baker, “They could go as much as one percent higher than they are now if the economy continues to grow.” Others have taken a more conservative approach and predicted that the average 30-year fixed rate loan will stay under 4.6% for the remainder of 2017.
Rates may jump higher following the Federal Reserve’s meeting in mid-March. Amid speculation that chairwoman Janet Yellen will instruct a Fed rate hike, lenders have been encouraging their buyers to lock in mortgage rates sooner rather than later.