The massive increase in outstanding mortgage debt has been driven by two things: more people with active mortgages and mortgages that are (generally) larger.
Over the past 50 years, rates dropped below 5% for the first time in 2009 after the Federal Reserve aggressively lowered target rates to combat the Great Recession of 2007 to 2009. Rates dipped below 4% for the first time in late 2011 and below 3% for the first time in 2020.
Average mortgage rates reached their lowest level (2.65%) during the first week of 2021. The lowest weekly rate in the 30 years between 1972 and 2001 — 6.45% — occurred in November 2001. But weekly average mortgage rates were back above 7.00% in August 2023 for the first time since November 2022. The 7.79% average for the week of Oct. 26, 2023, was the highest in more than 20 years.
Here’s a look at historic mortgage rates dating to 1972: