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Mortgage rates have been on the rise since around August of last year.

Rates, which on a 30-year fixed mortgage were at an all-time low of around 3.25% last year, are now not expected to go lower than the 4% mark anytime soon. This seemingly small hike can add hundreds, sometimes thousands, of dollars to a home buyer’s yearly payments. 

For example, for a $200,000 house at the rate of 3.25%, your monthly mortgage payment would be $870.41. For the same house at the current rate of 4.25%, the monthly payment would be $983.88. Over the course of a 30-year loan, that extra bit a month adds up to $40,000.

"Experts in the field expect that mortgage rates will remain at this plateau for now or will rise in the near future," says Christina Lane, senior mortgage…

For the first time in nearly a decade, America’s interest rates have seen an increase. 

The rate hike is a small one—with the Federal Reserve raising rates on December 17, 2015 from a range of 0% to 0.25% to a range of 0.25% to 0.5%—but will have an impact on many new home buyers. 

Although the increase isn’t a welcomed change for investors and home buyers, it’s a good indicator of the economy healing and becoming stronger since the Great Recession. Thankfully the unemployment rate is now at 5%, as opposed to 10% in 2009 during the worst of the job crisis. Now that more than 12 million jobs have been added since the recession and wages are finally beginning to creep upward, the economy is looking much better than it has the last few years. 

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