Mortgage Rates Sink Again

The lowest mortgage rates of the year sank a bit lower this week, with Freddie Mac reporting that lenders were offering 30-year fixed loans at an average of 3.92 percent, down from 3.97 percent a week ago.

The average rate for a 15-year loan also ratcheted down, from 3.18 percent to 3.1 percent, according to Freddie Mac’s weekly survey, offering borrowers an inexpensive way to pay their mortgages faster.

With inflation running below the Federal Reserve’s target of 2 percent and consumer prices up just 0.1 percent in September, investors are accepting rock-bottom returns on mortgage bonds guaranteed by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, the housing finance giants.

The average rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage was at its lowest point since June 2013, Freddie Mac said in its weekly report, issued Thursday. A year ago at this time, borrowers were offering 30-year loans at an average of 4.13 percent.

Freddie Mac asks lenders every Monday through Wednesday about the terms they are offering to low-risk borrowers who pay minimal points and fees to lenders — half of 1 percent of the loan amount in the latest survey.

This article appeared in print in the October 24th, 2014 edition of Hamodia.