Mortgage Highs and Lows

If we’ve learned anything about mortgage lending over the past 100 years, it’s to buckle our collective seat belt.

Rates go up and rates come down, mirroring the direction of key economic indicators such as gross domestic product and employment rates. What happens on the world stage matters, too – elections, wars, even speeches by political and financial leaders.

When George Blanchard and Francis Calhoun first advertised mortgage loans in 1919, the rates were 6 percent – slightly higher than contemporary rates. That doesn’t reflect the rollercoaster ride of recent decades in the industry. For the 12 years between 1978 and 1990, rates were double digit, topping out at an eye-popping 18 percent in 1981. Mortgage rates are fickle. We are not, and we have a century of experience to prove it.