If you are worried about interest rates, consider yourself lucky to be buying a home now rather than the 1980s or 1990s. To date, mortgage rates have averaged 6.5 percent during this decade. At that rate, the monthly principal and interest payment for a fixed-rate, 30-year, $200,000 mortgage is $1,264.
In contrast, the average mortgage rate during the decade of the 1990s was 8.1 percent, bringing the monthly payment on a $200,000 loan to $1,482. During the 1980s interest rates were even higher, averaging 12.7 percent. At that rate, the monthly payment on a 30-year, $200,000 mortgage is $2,166 an increase of $900 from what you would be paying today.
