By Matt Jarzemsky, Wall Street Journal
Average mortgage rates in the U.S. continued their fall in the past week, with the average rates on 30-year fixed and two other loans setting a record low, Freddie Mac said Thursday.
Rates have slumped for months because Treasury yields have slid amid to economic uncertainty and Federal Reserve rates that remain near zero. They resumed their retreat after increasing for a few weeks beginning at the end of August. Mortgage rates generally track the yields, which move inversely to Treasury prices.
Data suggesting inflation is “running at a tepid pace at best” have allowed “mortgage rates to ease to new or near record lows this week,” said Freddie Mac Chief Economist Frank Nothaft.
The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 4.27% for the week ended Thursday, down from the prior week’s 4.32% and 4.87% a year ago. Freddie has been tracking such rates since 1971.
The 15-year fixed mortgage averaged 3.72%, down from 3.75% the previous week and 4.33% in the like 2009 period. The latest week’s figure was the lowest since Freddie started tracking such loans in 1991.
Five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 3.47%, another low. They were down from the prior week’s 3.52% and 4.35% a year earlier. One-year Treasury-indexed adjustable rate mortgages were 3.4%, down from 3.48% on the week and 4.53% a year earlier.
