I was looking back at the mortgage rates from December 2020 and honestly, the numbers were wild. We hit all-time lows that month - the 30-year fixed was hovering around 2.71-2.90% depending on which survey you looked at. Hard to imagine rates that low now.

What's interesting is that even though mortgage rates december 2020 were at historic lows, the market didn't react the way you'd expect. Purchase activity actually started slowing down despite the cheap borrowing costs. Refinancing went crazy though - up like 89% year-over-year. People were scrambling to lock in those rates before anything changed.

The Fed was pretty clear back then that they'd keep rates near zero for as long as needed. Everyone was predicting mortgage rates december 2020 would stay low through 2021, but nobody really knew what would happen once the pandemic situation improved. Turns out rates did eventually start climbing, especially after stimulus packages and economic recovery kicked in.

Looking at those mortgage rates from that period now, it's a reminder of how crazy the monetary environment was. That window of historic lows didn't last forever, which is why anyone who could refinance back then basically had to do it.