You heard it, the dirty word 5% for 30 year mortgage rates. If you don’t think so, check out Wells or Citi websites for today’s mortgage rates. Now we are typically beating their rates, but yes they are higher than you may expect.

What has caused this is since the Quantitative Easing started on November 4th, we have seen a 650 bps negative change to the mortgage backed securities market. As a result mortgage rates are now back to levels seen not since May and before.

I have told many clients who are thinking to hedge that rates are going to go back down, that the best is behind us. Now that has come true. So where do we go from here? If I were a betting man, I would put my money on higher. But then again I have already refinanced my house, so I am not too much of a betting man for that piece of my finances.

If you haven’t yet and are waiting for lower rates, don’t wait too long. But remember all the doom and gloom that is out there from the media about rates going higher, doesn’t take into consideration that we are still at historical lows. So if you are planning on buying a house with low rates, and a great inventory of houses timing is great.