Just checked the mortgage rates from late December 2023 and noticed something interesting—the 30-year fixed was sitting at 7.13%, down slightly from 7.22% the week before. The 15-year rates were a bit better at 6.29%, which had dropped 0.06 points. Even the jumbo mortgage rates were holding steady around 7.18%.

What caught my eye was how stable things were getting. Rates weren't making wild swings week to week, which usually means the market's trying to find its footing. If you were looking at mortgage rates in December 2023, the spread between 15-year and 30-year options was pretty typical—about 0.84 percentage points apart.

The monthly payment math on a $100k loan at those December 2023 mortgage rates would've been roughly $674 for the 30-year. Not terrible compared to where rates had been earlier in the year. The bigger question was always whether you'd lock in or wait, but with rates fairly steady back then, at least you had some breathing room to decide.