Mortgage rates continued to inch lower in the last week and set a new record low with the 30-year mortgage at 3.5%. The question as we enter 2013 is will mortgage rates go up again soon? Analysts expect that the 30-year fixed mortgage rate will go up to an average of 4.1% in 2013 and 4.5% in 2014. However, these rates are still at all-time low levels in the past 20+ years. The slight increase is not expected to have much, if any, impact on housing starts or home sales.