Been digging through some old mortgage data from January 2023 and honestly the rate environment back then was pretty interesting. The 30-year fixed was sitting around 6.39% at that point, down from 6.58% the week before. For people trying to pay stuff off quicker, 15-year mortgages were hovering at 5.64%, which was a decent drop from the previous week's 5.87%.

What caught my eye looking back at those January 2023 mortgage rates was how the numbers actually worked out in practice. On a hundred grand loan at that 6.39% rate, you're looking at around $625 monthly just for principal and interest. Over the life of the loan, borrowers would end up paying like $125k in interest alone. The 15-year option at 5.64% was pricier month-to-month at $825, but you'd save a ton on interest - only about $48k total.

Jumbo mortgages were sitting flat that week at 6.39%, same as the standard 30-year. If you had a $750k jumbo mortgage back then, your monthly payment would've been pushing close to $4,700. There were also adjustable-rate mortgages floating around at 5.41% for the 5/1 ARM products. The thing about those January 2023 mortgage rates is they showed how APR matters - it includes fees and charges on top of the base rate, so it's usually higher than what you see advertised. Useful to check if refinancing actually made sense at those levels.