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Mortgage Rates Record Low

December 27, 2011 by · Comments Off on Mortgage Rates Record Low 

Mortgage Rates Record Low, Mortgage rates continue to find new bottom ground and are again at new historical lows, Freddie Mac said late last week.

Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey for the week ending December 22, 2011 revealed new record-breaking lows for both fixed-rate and adjustable-rate mortgages.

“Rates on 30-year fixed mortgages have been at or below 4 percent for the last eight weeks and now are almost 0.9 percentage points below where they were at the beginning of the year,” Frank Nothaft, vice president and chief economist, Freddie Mac, said in a statement.

Nothaft went on to explain how these record-breaking low mortgage rates amount to $1,200 less per year on a $200,000 loan.

In this latest survey, both 30-year fixed-rate mortgages (FRMs) and 15-year FRMs established new historical lows. 30-year FRMs fell to an average of 3.91 percent after falling to a new record low at 3.94 percent the previous week, while 15-year FRM remained at a record-low 3.21 percent average.

One year ago at this time, 30-year FRMs averaged 4.81 percent, while 15-year FRMs averaged 4.15 percent.

Average rates for adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) feel to all-time low territory, as well. 5-year ARMs averaged 2.85 percent (down from 2.86 percent), and 1-year ARMs averaged 2.77 percent (down from 2.81 percent).

These record-low mortgage rates have translated to high affordability for prospective home buyers. And this increased affordability has, in turn, translated to a rise in recent home sales. In November, existing home sales rose 4 percent on a monthly basis.

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