The Redmond Group

Legend Home Lending

  • Home
  • About Us
  • Blog
  • Mortgage Info
    • First Time Home Buyer Tips
    • First Time Home Seller Tips
    • Home Appraisal
    • Home Inspection
    • Loan Checklist
    • Loan Process
    • Mortgage Glossary
  • Pre-Qualify Now
  • Contact

How Are Mortgage Rates Determined?

May 19, 2016 by Joel and Jodi Redmond

How Are Mortgage Rates Determined?If you’ve been paying attention to the mortgage rate news, you may be wondering exactly how it is banks decide what mortgage rates to offer. Do they just pick a number at random? Mortgage rates may seem somewhat arbitrary, but there’s actually something of a science to them.

So how does your bank or lender determine what your interest rate will be? Here are just some of the factors that go into the equation.

Rates Always Account For Inflation

First and foremost, every mortgage interest rate needs to account for inflation. Inflation is the average annual change in purchasing power brought about by changing economic conditions. When inflation goes up, money loses purchasing power and when it goes down, money gains purchasing power.

For example, an annual inflation rate of two percent means that a $100 bill minted in 2014 would be able to buy just $98 worth of goods in 2015. Mortgage interest rates always take the inflation rate into account, because if your bank’s mortgage rate were lower than the rate of inflation, your bank would actually lose money on your mortgage.

The Default Risk Premium: Your Likelihood Of Default Impacts Your Rate

The default risk premium is a rate that your lender adds to the inflation rate in order to mitigate the risk of not recovering the loan. Different kinds of loans carry different risk levels, and your lender needs some way of staying profitable even when losses happen. The default risk premium helps your lender to profit more on high-risk mortgages, which mitigates the problems associated with a default.

The more at risk of defaulting on a loan you are, the higher this premium will be.

The Liquidity Premium: Can Your Lender Recoup Potential Losses?

The liquidity premium is similar to the default risk premium, but rather than addressing the possibility that the borrower might default, this premium mitigates the risk of not being able to re-sell the property after the borrower defaults. If a borrower enters default, the lender’s only option is to sell the property in order to recover its losses. However, a home is a non-liquid asset, and it’s very difficult to turn a home into cash and the liquidity premium compensates the lender for the additional time and effort it takes to sell a non-liquid asset.

Mortgage rates may seem like sorcery, but there’s a clear science and a logical method involved in calculating rates and premiums. To learn more about mortgage rates, or to find out what kind of a mortgage rate you may be eligible for, contact your trusted local mortgage professional.

Home Mortgage Tips Tagged: Home Mortgage Tips, Mortgage Rates

Joel and Jodi

Contact Us


Call Us! (281) 218-6848
Legend Home Lending
Joel NMLS #231806
Jodi NMLS #231807
Legend Logo

Connect with Me!

PRE-QUALIFY →

Let’s Keep In Touch!

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Quick Links

  • Get A FREE Rate Quote!
  • Accessibility Statement
  • About Us
  • Contact

Looking For Something?

Equal Housing
Legend Lending Corporation • NMLS # 229421 | NMLS Consumer Access | Privacy Notice | Texas Recovery Fund Notice

Legend Lending Corporation, NMLS 229421 is an equal opportunity lender.

Archives


Joel & Jodi Redmond
17047 El Camino Real
Suite 150
Houston, TX 77058

Copyright © 2023 The Redmond Group  ·  All rights reserved   ·   Log In