Where are home loan rates headed?

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Home loan rates have been near historic lows for a while now but the $64 question is, where are home loan rates headed in the future?  While there are, of course, a variety of opinions out there, the majority of the noteworthy ones are thinking interest rates are headed upward.  In the Well’s Fargo Securities Economic Outlook report for 2014, interest rates in the year ahead (2014) was addresses, saying “we expect long-term rates to exhibit an upward bias as Fed tapering moves forward. However, the extent of any increase in long-term rates should be modest, given continued low inflation and a reduced federal budget deficit “.  PNC Bank, in their Economic Outlook report for 2014 forecast that 30 year mortgage rates would increase to 4.95% during 2014, about 1% higher than 2013.  Oh yeah, I should also mention, according to a recent poll by Rasmussen Reports, 50% of the consumers surveyed say they expect higher interest rates a year from now.  So there you have it…higher rates on the horizon.

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