Mortgage rates headed higher this week, continuing the strong upward trend that followed last week’s election results.

The upward movements over the past couple weeks were a long-awaited deviation from the glacial, downward trend that rates have followed for the past few months. Rates have risen in the past week at their fastest pace since the spring and recently touched their highest level since mid-November. The question going forward is whether this upward trajectory for rates will continue. The path forward for mortgage rates will be dictated by our ability to contain and treat COVID-19, as well as improvement in the labor markets – which has been the case for months.

A lack of meaningful progress on those fronts limits how much higher rates can head. While there is more upward pressure on mortgage rates now, rates still remain historically low, and a prolonged upward spike is far from inevitable.