Yearly Mortgage Rates 1971 - 2025

[Don Konipol]

Thought it might be interesting to see what mortgage rates were like 40 years ago 

Yearly Average weekly interest rate

1971 (beginning in April) 7.54%

1972 7.38%

1973 8.04%

1974 9.19%

1975 9.05%

1976 8.87%

1977 8.85%

1978 9.64%

1979 11.20%

1980 13.74%

1981 16.64%

1982 16.04%

1983 13.24%

1984 13.88%

1985 12.43%

1986 10.19%

1987 10.21%

1988 10.34%

1989 10.32%

1990 10.13%

1991 9.25%

1992 8.39%

1993 7.31%

1994 8.38%

1995 7.93%

1996 7.81%

1997 7.60%

1998 6.94%

1999 7.44%

2000 8.05%

2001 6.97%

2002 6.54%

2003 5.83%

2004 5.84%

2005 5.87%

2006 6.41%

2007 6.34%

2008 6.03%

2009 5.04%

2010 4.69%

2011 4.45%

2012 3.66%

2013 3.98%

2014 4.17%

2015 3.85%

2016 3.65%

2017 3.99%

2018 4.54%

2019 3.94%

2020 3.11%

2021 2.96%

2022 5.34%

2023 6.81%

2024 6.72%

2025 (through May) 6.81%

Source: Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey®

[Patrick Roberts]

I've been telling clients this for 2 years now. 5-7% is the norm for mortgage rates. Anything below that is likely the result of government intervention in the market, which itself the result of economic malaise elsewhere. You do not want rate to be at 3% again, because it means we're in the middle of another Covid, Great Recession, etc.