Freddie Mac, the government-run mortgage agency that surveys the market each week, announced that mortgage rates fell again this week…continuing to set record lows.
The average price of a 30-year mortgage dropped to 4.42% from 4.44%. This time last year, the mortgage rate was 5.12%, which was low at the time.
Amazingly, you can get a 15-year fixed-rate loan for under 4% — 3.90% this week, which is down from last week’s rate of 3.92%. This time last year, the same loan cost 4.56%.
Mortgage rates fell to a record low for the fourth time in five weeks. The average rate for 30-year fixed loans this week is 4.56 percent, down from 4.57 last week. That’s the lowest since Freddie Mac began tracking rates in 1971.
Freddie Mac reported this morning that interest rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 4.57 percent this week. That’s down a hundredth of a percentage point from last week’s average rate, which was already at record lows. Freddie Mac has been tracking 30-year-fixed-rate mortgages for 39 years, and the past three weeks have shown record-setting lows for the most popular type of home loan.
Mortgage rates are low, and it seems they will be staying that way for a while. In fact, they are two one-hundredths of a percentage point away from the rates of 1956…that’s 54 years!
The average rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage is within one one-hundredth of a percentage point of the 4.71% reported the week ending December 3, 2009, and if rates decline two one-hundredths of a percentage point, we’re back to the spring of 1956, when the average rate hit 4.68%, according to National Bureau of Economic Research statistics.
Rates for 15-year mortgages fell for the fourth straight week, to 4.17%, the lowest rate since Freddie Mac started tracking 15-year loans in 1991.
In addition to low mortgage rates, according to a recent BankRate.com article, some lenders are beginning to loosen their requirements for down payments. The article discusses four types of mortgages that require small down payments, some with zero down options. While these mortgages may have limited availability, they could be a sign of what’s to come.