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by matthewmacleod 3212 days ago
Not necessarily – interest rates are exceptionally low in places. My own mortgage is around the 1% mark – it's more efficient to invest the money that would otherwise be used to pay it off.

(That's not to say that there are no other reasons to pay off the mortgage – owning a home outright is a great security to have.)
1 comments
fbonetti 3212 days ago
1% is incredibly low. Where do you live, when did you take out the loan, and what are the terms? According to this[1] chart, the lowest 30 year mortgage rate in the past 40 years was about 3.5%. I'm curious how you got a loan with such a low rate.

[1] https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=NUh

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matthewmacleod 3211 days ago
The UK. The mortgage market is different; terms are rarely 30 years, but rather homes are often refinanced every 2-5 years for a fixed mortgage rate, which reverts to a higher variable rate after that period.

Of course, this means that if interest rates suddenly spike then my mortgage payment will go up. But it does mean that in the short term it would not make sense to pay more off.

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TrickyRick 3212 days ago
In Sweden the interest rates are around 1% (I don't know where the OP is from, just giving some context). I think the average is around 1.5% for all home owners and it's not unheard of for people with good jobs and not too big mortgages to have interest rates at the 0.5-0.75% mark.
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