5/1 ARM Calculator
This calculator will help you determine what your monthly payment would be under a adjustable rate mortgage (ARM) plan. First enter your mortgage loan amount, the beginning interest rate, and the loan term. Then enter the number of months before the first adjustment and the number of months between adjustments. Finish up by inputting expected adjustment percentages and an interest rate cap.
Press “Calculate Mortgage Payment,” and you’ll receive a breakdown of the costs associated with your ARM. For a printable amortization schedule, click on the available button and a new browser window will open.
Do you need to know the current market conditions in your local area? We publish current Columbus fixed & ARM mortgage rates to help you make accurate calculations and connect with local lenders.
Today's Columbus Fixed & ARM Mortgage Rates
The following table shows current mortgage rates in Columbus. Adjust your loan inputs to match your scenario and see what rates you qualify for.
Understanding ARM Loans
Adjustable-rate mortgages get their name from the fact that rates are variable & change over the life of the loan. Most ARM loans are structured as hybrid loans, where the a low introductory rate is offered for a fixed period of time & then the rates reset annually after the initial period.
A 5/1 loan means that the rate of interest & monthly payments will remain constant for the first 5 years of the loan, then the rate will reset each year thereafter based upon the performance of a reference index rate. As the benchmark index rate rises, any loan priced against it will rise as well. Mortgages are priced at a fixed margin above the reference rate.
The one-year LIBOR rate is the most frequently used rate for pricing mortgages, so if your loan is priced at LIBOR + 3% then if LIBOR jumps from 1.88 to 3.38 then the rate on your loan would shift from 4.88% to 6.38%.
Fixed vs Adjustable Loans
When interest rates are high or have risen rapidly borrowers can sometimes get a significant discount off of fixed rates by opting for an adjustable rate loan. In 1984 and 1994 adjustable-rate loans managed to make up the majority of newly originated mortgages reaching peaks above 60% and capturing nearly 70% of the market some months.
When interest rates are low there is a small gap between fixed & adjustable rates. That in turn promotes consumers choosing fixed-rate loans, as it removed their risk of interest rate shock in case rates rise, while still allowing them to retain the ability to refinance if rates fall further.
After the Great Recession interest rates plunged globally. Central banks engaged in quantitative easing to drive down core interest rates across the global economy & the Federal Reserve purchased $1.25 trillion worth of Mortgage Backed Securities (MBS) to further lower the spread between mortgage rates and the 10 year treasury notes.
Market conditions will change over time, but here is a table comparing the interest rates of various home loan products, and how those rates may impact the monthly payments & total interest cost on a $250,000 loan.
Loan Type | 3/1 ARM IO | 3/1 ARM | 5/1 ARM | 7/1 ARM | 30 YR FRM | 15 YR FRM |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Initial Monthly Payment | $683.33 | $1,066.18 | $1,107.32 | $1,135.21 | $1,169.17 | $1,739.71 |
Maximum Monthly Payment | $1,907.38 | $1,755.48 | $1,760.27 | $1,746.29 | $1,169.17 | $1,739.71 |
Average Monthly Payment | $1,754.32 | $1,658.07 | $1,624.64 | $1,578.81 | $1,169.17 | $1,739.71 |
Initial Interest Rate (APR) | 3.28% | 3.09% | 3.39% | 3.59% | 3.83% | 3.11% |
Maximium Interest Rate | 8.28% | 8.09% | 8.39% | 8.59% | 3.83% | 3.11% |
Maximum Total Interest Expense | $381,555.35 | $346,905.11 | $334,871.64 | $318,371.88 | $170,899.13 | $63,147.95 |
The above table does not include other costs of home ownership including maintenance, insurance & property taxes. Those costs were stripped out in order to isolate the impact of interest rates & loan duration on payments. The above table presumes:
- 2/1/5 interest rate caps on ARMs, which are met throughout the duration of the loans
- The homeowner lives in the house for the entire period of the loan & makes regularly scheduled payments throughout the duration of the loan without refinancing.
5/1 Interest-only Loans
5/1 IO loans charge interest only for the first 3 years of the loan. Then when the 5 year point is hit the loan is recast to a traditional amortizing home loan which is repaid over the subsequent 25 year period.
Advantages of 5/1 ARMs
These home loans have a low upfront payment which can enable young adults to qualify for homes they might not have otherwise been able to afford. These loans are also popular among people who do not intend to live in the house for longer than the reset period & those who are professional house flippers. People who feel interest rates are likely to head lower are also more likely to choose an adjustable-rate loan. The last United States recession lasted from December of 2007 until the second quarter of 2009. Since the end of WWII the average expansion has had a duration of 58.4 months. The current expansion is closing in on a decade, so we may experience another recession before the rate reset period.
When the United States economy was going strong & bonds were in a secular bull market homeowners tended to refinance their mortgages or move houses about once every 5 to 7 years. After the Great Recession capital further gained power over labor & many of the jobs created in the recovery were part-time or gig economy jobs. Homeowners now move less frequently, with rate being closer to once per decade.
Disadvantages of 5/1 ARMs
As the above table shows, people using adjustable rates can pay a lot more interest over the life of the loan if interest rates rise significantly. That table shows the worst case scenario to show how much things can change, but for people who plan on living in their home for many years to come it probably still makes sense to lock in the current historically low rates with a 15 or 30 year fixed rate mortgage. The potential to pay over $500 more per month to save $60 off initial monthly payments is not a particularly compelling offer for people who intend to live in the home throughout the duration of the loan.
The vast majority of Americans are choosing FRMs over ARMs & this will likely remain the case until interest rates rise significantly from their current historically low rates.
Year | Mortgages in Sample | 30-yr FRM | 15-yr FRM | Other FRMs | Non-FRMs |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2004 | 15,050 | 47.4% | 17.9% | 10.4% | 24.3% |
2005 | 17,666 | 47.0% | 16.6% | 10.0% | 26.4% |
2006 | 18,407 | 48.3% | 14.0% | 10.3% | 27.4% |
2007 | 17,257 | 56.4% | 15.0% | 11.4% | 17.4% |
2008 | 17,314 | 65.5% | 15.0% | 10.6% | 9.0% |
2009 | 17,155 | 65.6% | 15.1% | 9.8% | 8.5% |
2010 | 16,265 | 68.0% | 14.2% | 9.3% | 8.5% |
2011 | 15,133 | 71.7% | 12.8% | 9.1% | 6.4% |
2012 | 14,649 | 70.7% | 13.6% | 8.9% | 6.8% |
2013 | 13,806 | 70.7% | 13.3% | 8.8% | 7.2% |
2014 | 12,912 | 70.8% | 13.4% | 8.5% | 7.3% |
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2004-2014 Consumer Expenditure Survey pooled sample.
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