New Record Low for Mortgage Loans (Again!)

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Long-term mortgage rates continued to move lower this week, with a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage falling to a record low for the second consecutive week.

The weekly rate report from Freddie Mac says 30-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 3.35 percent in the week ending May 2, down from 3.4 percent last week. The average rate on a 30-year fixed rate loan is just above its all-time low of 3.31 percent set in November.

A 15-year fixed rate loan fell to an average of 2.56 percent, on par with average rates for both one-year and five-year adjustable-rate mortgages.

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The Real Crash is Coming!

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Well, well, well… what an interesting year 2013 is shaping up to be!

The U.S. is still, at least according to the U.S., the world's largest economy. Super!

Of course, U.S. gross national production includes the value of goods and services Americans produce regardless of their location – even overseas!  But where do those employees live, rent homes, and spend money with local businesses (who rent homes and office space locally)?

Real estate investors typically care where the people are because people and their income is what gives real estate its value.  After all, there's lots of land on the moon, but it isn't worth much because there aren't any people there… at least not yet!

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Strategies to Benefit from Inflation

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The only “hedge” against inflation that we are aware of that works consistently over time, in any market, and any economy is real estate. Well bought real estate can stand the scrutiny of analyses, using historic or current data, by investing using borrowed money.

To be clear, the ability of real estate to provide a real hedge against inflation only works if you get a mortgage to acquire the property. If you use your own cash, then this capital will be ravaged by the same inflation, and in a similar manner, as if you had purchased anything else.

Although we argue strenuously that there are other benefits of investing in real estate. However, the greater the proportion of the purchase price that is funded using borrowed money, the greater the inflation-beating benefits to you.

And this is where we come to one of those great benefits of real estate that is easy to miss. Since real estate prices are subject to inflation, by borrowing the purchase price (or a large proportion of it) you can largely beat inflation, and real estate is also about the only asset class against which banks and financial institutions will let you borrow money in the first place. It's a marriage made in heaven!

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Why Real Estate Investors Love Inflation!

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Investors love real estate because it acts as a hedge against inflation. This occurs for several reasons:

One, on an historical basis, housing prices rise just as fast or faster than the rate of inflation. Two, although investors can’t always raise rents to account for inflation (due to fixed-rent leases of one year or more), the value of the property itself will increase. Three, when real estate investors have a fixed-rate loan, expenses will stay the same, and they pay back that loan with money that’s worth less than what they borrowed! In effect, it’s a form of debt reduction. It just doesn’t get any better than that!

Inflation should be moderate in order to benefit investors. Hyperinflation or its opposite – deflation – are definitely bad news for everyone.

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