During the current financial crisis, one of the greatest concerns of people is the direction that mortgage rates would take during the course of the year. While most predict that it will come down, based on current and past trends, there are some that suggest it might temporarily go up a little bit before coming down.

Although it is difficult to predict mortgage rates precisely, one can make a good guess based on recent events in the country in the financial sector.

Mortgage rates have to do a lot with the credit rating of the applicant and the amount that they are able to make as a down payment. Applicants who can make a payment of 20% on the mortgage amount and have a high FICO credit score can hope to get a mortgage rate of 5% or lower. Sadly not my people have these statistics working for them. Only the financially astute who have managed to maintain good credit scores and are able to raise some kind of financial backing can get such good rates.

That being said, the average mortgage rates have been decreasing over the past couple of weeks. The natural tendency is to predict a further fall in rates, which is most probably what might happen although we cannot be absolutely certain about it.

One of the factors working against the fall of mortgage rates is the enormous number of new mortgage applications that have been filed over the recent weeks. A sudden load in paper work might sometimes force lenders to temporarily raise their mortgage rates. But even if there is a spike, it is estimated that it would last only for a very brief period. The general consensus is that mortgage rates would show a downward trend in the long run, which is definitely good news.