Please make sure to check out the mortgage rate predictions while visiting Subprime Blogger.  We offer predictions each week before the data is released on Thursdays by Freddie Mac.

This week mortgage rates ticked up a WHOLE .09% and the media is in a complete frenzy.  I have seen more “mortgage rates going higher” articles this week than I have over the last eight months COMBINED.  I realize that mortgage rates have been in a steady downtrend since October, but is a short term bounce higher really that big of a deal?  There is very little doubt that the 10 year treasury yield will bring mortgage rates higher, but do you really think the government is going to let them get that high?

I will answer that question for you, NO, the government will not let mortgage rates get to a point where the interest in the housing market is gone.  I know that free markets eventually work themselves out, but the government plays a huge role in where money is going in this country.  We have already seen Ben Bernanke sink over a TRILLION dollars into mortgage backed securities and I am sure it will continue in an attempt to keep mortgage rates low.

Even if mortgage rates do tick up an entire .5% they are still at levels most people would have died for in the past.  If you ask anyone over the age of 30 if they would have gotten a mortgage rate under 6% how would they feel, many would answer ecstatic.  We are in a time where mortgage rates are near histortic lows and we should take advantage of it.  Even if these are articficial mortgage rates that the Fed has pushed lower, they are still rates that are attainable to you and I.

The question is, why is the media so crazed about mortgage rates ticking up.  I honestly believe it is psychology.  For several months now all we have seen is that mortgage rates are LOWER.  We have gotten complacent with the idea that there has been a downward trend that has not been broken.  Now that rates have bounced a little bit and the yields are heading higher, the media wants to throw out something different.

To compound matters, the public is feeding into the frenzy.  If you do research on the searchs for mortgage rates, mortgage rate trends, mortgage rate forecasts, mortgage rate predictions, and other related searches, you will see a spike over the last week.  Human psychology is very interesting and just because something has changed a little bit has gotten the attention of almost all home owners.

It will be very interesting to see if these trends continue if mortgage rates head lower.  I am very surprised that there is such a great deal of interest but I cannot complain as interest in my field also makes me happy.  I would urge all of you considering getting a mortgage or refinance to get out there and educate yourself so you can lock in at some of the lowest mortgage rates in history.