Mortgage interest rates have been declining on a weekly basis over the past month, but... let's not forget exactly where we are relative to the past 30, 40 and 50 years...

The graph above shows the amount that the average 30 year mortgage interest rate changed from year to year.

All of the blue bars are showing years when the average mortgage interest rate decreased as compared to the prior year.

For example...

Between 2003 and 2004 it didn't really change at all.. it increased by 0.01%.

Between 2008 and 2009 it dropped 0.99%.

But more recently...

Between 2021 and 2022 it increased by 2.39%.

Between 2022 and 2023 it has increased by 1.46%.

So, it has been a rough two years of increasing mortgage interest rates... with the 2022 and 2023 increases being some of the largest increase in the annual average, ever, only surpassed by 1979, 1980 and 1981.

Let's hope for a blue bar in 2024 with a decline in the average mortgage interest rate as compared to 2023.