So I was looking back at mortgage rates from March 2023 the other day, and it's interesting to see where things were at that point. The mortgage rates in march 2023 were actually pretty high compared to what people had gotten used to. Thirty-year fixed mortgages were sitting around 7.18% back then, which honestly felt like a shock to a lot of borrowers after years of lower rates.

I remember thinking at the time that mortgage rates in March 2023 were climbing pretty steadily. The 15-year fixed was around 6.28%, and if you were looking at jumbo mortgages, you were looking at 7.28%. Even the ARM products were pushing 5.81% for a 5/1. When you do the math on those rates - like a hundred grand at 7.18% meant paying roughly $677 a month just in principal and interest - it really adds up over time.

What struck me most was how volatile things had been in that year leading up to March. The 52-week range showed rates had swung from lows around 3.64% to highs near 7.41%. That kind of movement probably stressed out a lot of people trying to time their home purchase. The mortgage rates for march 2023 essentially locked in a new reality for borrowers - higher monthly payments and a lot more interest paid over the life of the loan.

If you were thinking about refinancing or buying back then, you really had to factor in that APR number too, not just the headline rate. The APR on a 30-year was 7.19% that week, which includes all the lender fees on top of the interest rate itself. That's the real number that matters when you're budgeting for a house purchase.