Mortgage Rates Down This Week
MORE BAD NEWS! OH GOD WHEN WILL IT END!!!!
07/18/2002 12:17:08 EST
WASHINGTON (AP) - Mortgage rates around the country edged down this week, with rates on 30-year, 15-year and one-year adjustable-rate mortgages dipping to their lowest levels this year, according to a nationwide survey released Thursday.
Freddie Mac, the mortgage company, reported that the average interest rate on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages fell to 6.49 percent this week, down from 6.54 percent the previous week. A year ago this time, 30-year mortgages averaged 7.08 percent.
In early November, rates on 30-year mortgages dropped to 6.45 percent, their lowest point since Freddie Mac began conducting its survey in 1971.
For the second quarter, 30-year rates averaged 6.8 percent and could move even lower in the current quarter and in the fourth quarter, Freddie Mac says. Low rates are keeping the housing market healthy and leading to brisk mortgage refinancing activity, economists say.
The average interest rate on 15-year mortgages, a popular option for refinancing, dipped to 5.93 percent this week. That was down from 6 percent the week before. A year ago, 15-year mortgages averaged 6.65 percent.
On one-year adjustable-rate mortgages, lenders were asking an average initial rate of 4.50 percent, down from 4.66 percent the previous week. Last year this time, one-year ARMs averaged 5.62 percent.
These rates do not include add-on fees known as points. Thirty-year mortgages carried an average 0.6 point, while 15-year and one-year ARMs each carried an average 0.5 point. |
