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How much would a $700,000 mortgage cost per month?
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Mortgage interest rates have been falling lately and, this month, they could drop again. With a consistently cooling inflation rate and a rise in unemployment, the Federal Reserve is poised to issue its first cut to the federal funds rate since 2020. And, when it does, mortgage interest rates are expected to adjust downward, too. That will be welcome news for millions of homebuyers, who have been contending with the highest average rates since 2000. But these buyers should consider being proactive now. With rates falling and the prospect of multiple rate cuts to come high, the homebuying process could soon be complicated with additional buyer competition and and an increase in home prices.
One essential way to prepare for the process is to calculate your budget and potential monthly payments, both at today’s prevailing rates and what they may be in the coming months. And with home prices rising in many parts of the country, a mortgage loan for $700,000 may not be uncommon. But how much would a $700,000 mortgage cost per month? That’s what we will calculate below.
Start by seeing how low of a mortgage interest rate you could secure here.
How much would a $700,000 mortgage cost per month?
While your mortgage payments can be affected by a variety of personal factors, including taxes, homeowners insurance and private mortgage insurance (PMI) if you don’t put down a 20% down payment upon purchase, it helps first to know what your principal and interest will be. If you can afford that payment with room to spare, then you can tack on the additional costs. Here’s what a $700,000 monthly mortgage payment would be, then, at today’s rates minus those additions (and assuming a 20% downpayment of $140,000):
- 15-year mortgage at 5.86%: $4,683.35 per month
- 30-year mortgage at 6.44%: $3,517.51 per month
So you’ll wind up paying more than $1,000 extra each month if you go with the condensed 15-year mortgage term but you’ll also pay off the loan in half the time, saving you significant sums of interest in the process. But what would these payments look like if mortgage interest rates drop by 25 basis points later in September and another 25 basis points when the Fed meets in November? Here’s how those payments could change:
After September rate cuts:
- 15-year mortgage at 5.61%: $4,608.42 per month ($74.93 cheaper)
- 30-year mortgage at 6.19%: $3,426.19 per month ($91.32 cheaper)
After November rate cuts:
- 15-year mortgage at 5.36%: $4,534.17 per month ($149.18 cheaper)
- 30-year mortgage at 5.94%: $3,335.91 per month ($181.60 cheaper)
So mortgage payments for qualified borrowers on a $700,000 mortgage would range between $3,517.51 per month and $4,683.35 monthly, not including homeowners insurance, taxes and PMI. But if buyers wait, they may be able to get a slightly lower rate and, potentially, save upwards of $100 each month.
Start exploring your current mortgage rate options here today.
Other considerations
In addition to the potential complications of increased competition, potential bidding wars and a possible rise in home prices that negates the savings from cooler interest rates, homebuyers also need to be realistic about prospective rate cuts. Mortgage interest rates won’t fall precisely in tandem as the federal funds rate does. And many lenders may have already priced in interest rate reductions to come, so the rates they offer today may only be marginally different than what’s offered once rate cuts are formally issued. Still, a cooling interest rate climate is better for borrowers than a rising one, so it behooves buyers to watch mortgage interest rates daily, particularly throughout the remainder of 2024.
The bottom line
A mortgage payment on a $700,000 loan with a 20% down payment for qualified borrowers could cost between $3,517.51 per month and $4,683.35 for principal and interest. And if buyers wait, they could see substantial savings later in the year. But waiting also poses its own set of issues to deal with, so buyers will need to be realistic about what they can afford now and what the pros and cons are of waiting for an improved rate later in 2024 and possibly into 2025.
TRENTON, N.J. — Democratic Newark City Council President LaMonica McIver has defeated Republican small businessman Carmen Bucco in a contest in New Jersey’s 10th Congressional District that opened up because of the death of Rep. Donald Payne Jr. in April.
McIver will serve out the remainder of Payne’s term, which ends in January. She and Bucco will face a rematch on the November ballot for the full term.
McIver said in a statement Wednesday that she stands on the “shoulders of giants,” naming Payne as chief among them.
She cast ahead to the November election, saying the right to make reproductive health choices was on the ballot as well as whether the economy should benefit the wealthy or “hard working Americans.”
“I will fight because the purpose of politics and the purpose of our vote is to give the people of our communities and our nation a bold voice,” she said.
Bucco congratulated McIver on the victory in a statement but said he’s looking forward to the rematch in November.
“I am not going anywhere,” he said in an email. “We still have a second chance to make district 10 great again!”
Who are LaMonica McIver and Carmen Bucco?
McIver emerged as the Democratic candidate in a crowded field in the July special election. A member of the city council of New Jersey’s biggest city since 2018, she also worked for Montclair Public Schools as a personnel director and plans to focus on affordability, infrastructure, abortion rights and “protecting our democracy,” she told The Associated Press earlier this summer.
Bucco describes himself on his campaign website as a small-business owner influenced by his upbringing in the foster system. He lists support for law enforcement and ending corruption as top issues.
The 10th District lies in a heavily Democratic and majority-Black region of northern New Jersey. Republicans are outnumbered by more than 6 to 1.
It’s been a volatile year for Democrats in New Jersey, where the party dominates state government and the congressional delegation.
Among the developments were the conviction on federal bribery charges of U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, who has denied the charges, and the demise of the so-called county party line — a system in which local political leaders give their preferred candidates favorable position on the primary ballot.
Democratic Rep. Andy Kim, who’s running for Menendez’s seat, and other Democrats brought a federal lawsuit challenging the practice as part of his campaign to oust Menendez, who has resigned since his conviction.
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Sean “Diddy” Combs at same Brooklyn detention center that held R. Kelly, Sam Bankman-Fried, other high-profile inmates
A second judge refused to grant bail to Sean “Diddy” Combs on Wednesday and he could remain in federal custody at a Brooklyn detention center until his trial for sex trafficking charges. Combs joins other high-profile inmates, such as singer R. Kelly, fallen cryptocurrency mogul Sam Bankman-Fried, rapper Ja Rule —even Al Sharpton served a brief stint— who were held at the same federal detention center.
Notorious for its horrible conditions —inmates won a $10 million class action settlement after enduring frigid conditions during an 8-day blackout in 2019— the waterfront industrial complex, MDC Brooklyn, houses 1,200 inmates.
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Violence and corruption have long plagued the facility; U.S. District Judge Gary R. Brown of the Eastern District of New York wrote the detention center had “dangerous, barbaric conditions” in a recent sentencing opinion. Two inmates were stabbed to death in recent months and several correction officers have been convicted for smuggling contraband and accepting bribes.
Combs joins a list of high-profile personalities that have landed at the MDC Brooklyn, partly because the city’s other federal detention center, MDC New York, closed in 2021, also due to horrible conditions. The disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein died by suicide in his cell there in 2019. “Numerous and serious” instances of misconduct among corrections staff gave Epstein the opportunity to kill himself, a subsequent federal watchdog investigation found.
Kelly sued the federal detention center in 2022 for wrongly putting him on suicide watch after his sentencing. Kelly sought $100 million because he said the detention center knew he wasn’t suicidal after he was convicted in 2021 for racketeering and violating the Mann Act, which bars transporting people across state lines for prostitution.
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Former crypto billionaire Bankman-Fried survived on bread, water and sometimes peanut butter when he was in the MDC Brooklyn, his attorney said, because the detention center continued to serve him a “flesh diet” despite requests for vegan dishes.
Ja Rule stayed at the MDC Brooklyn for a brief time before being released after serving most of his two-year sentence for illegal gun possession. Most of his prison time was spent in a state prison in New York.
Sharpton served a 90-day sentence in 2001 and went on a hunger strike for protesting the U.S. Navy bombing of the island of Vieques, in Puerto Rico.
Combs was taken into custody on Monday and according to an indictment unsealed Tuesday he was charged with sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy and transportation to engage in prostitution.
His attorney Marc Agnifilo told CBS News, “It’s impossible to prepare for a trial from where he is,” after a first federal judge denied Combs bail on Tuesday.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Robyn Tarnofsky agreed with prosecutors who argued the hip-hop mogul, who is accused of using his business empire as a criminal enterprise to conceal his alleged abuse of women, is a flight risk and poses an ongoing threat to the safety of the community.
Agnifilo said the part of the detention center where Combs is being held is “a very difficult place to be.”
contributed to this report.
