By Alan Zibel
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Mortgage rates fell this week to the lowest level on record, giving consumers added incentive to lock in low payments on home purchases and refinancings.
Mortgage company Freddie Mac said today that the average rate for 30-year fixed loans sank to 4.69 percent, from 4.75 percent last week.
That’s the lowest since Freddie Mac began tracking rates in 1971. The previous record of 4.71 percent was set in December. Rates for 15-year and five-year mortgages also hit lows.
Mortgage rates have fallen over the past two months. Investors wary of the European debt crisis and the turbulent stock market have shifted money into the safety of Treasury bonds, driving down yields. Mortgage rates tend to track the yields on long-term Treasury debt.
Freddie Mac collects mortgage rates on Monday through Wednesday of each week from lenders around the country. Rates often fluctuate significantly, even within a given day.
Rates on 15-year, fixed-rate mortgages fell to an average of 4.13 percent, the lowest on records dating to September 1991 and down from 4.2 percent a week earlier.
Rates on five-year, adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 3.84 percent, down from 3.89 percent a week earlier. That was also the lowest on Freddie Mac’s records, which only date back to January 2005.
Average rates on one-year, adjustable-rate mortgages fell to 3.77 percent from 3.82 percent. That was the lowest average since May 2004.
The rates do not include add-on fees
known as points. One point is equal to 1 percent of the total loan amount.
The nationwide fee for loans in Freddie Mac’s survey averaged 0.7 a point for 30-year, 5-year and 1-year loans. The average fee for 15-year loans was 0.6 of a point.
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This is truly amazing! Although it may be short lived, so homebuyers should be taking action. The MN Housing First Time Homebuyer Rate is at 4.25%! If shoppers are waiting for another Tax Credit they may miss the opportunity to realize the long term savings of a lower rate because we can only predict that IF another new Tax Credit is issued these low rates will all but disappear. It’s obvious that the rates are being held down to continue interest in the absence of a current tax credit. I think we are experiencing what you could call….. “You can’t have your cake and eat it too!”