Across the board, mortgage rates dip slightly
Rates on 30-year mortgages remained almost flat this week as the Federal Reserve said it would keep interest rates near record lows to help the economy recover.</br></br>The average rate on a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage was 4.98 percent this week, down from 4.99 percent last week, Freddie Mac said Thursday. Last year at this time, the average rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage was 5.10 percent.</br></br>Rates are still above the record low of 4.71 percent set in early December. They've been held around 5 percent by a Federal Reserve program to pump $1.25 trillion into mortgage-backed securities to try to keep home-loan rates low, making home buying more affordable.</br></br>On Wednesday, the Fed said it still expects to end the program as scheduled on March 31. However, the central bank did say that it remains open to changing the timetable if necessary.</br></br>The average rate on 15-year, fixed-rate mortgages fell slightly, to 4.39 percent from 4.40 percent. Rates on five-year, adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 4.25 percent, down from 4.27 percent. Rates on one-year ARMs dropped to 4.29 percent from 4.32 percent.