30-Year Mortgage Rates Drop to 5.41%
Mortgage rates fell sharply this week, with the rate on benchmark 30-year mortgages dropping to its lowest level since early July.</br></br>The average rate on 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages was 5.41 percent, Freddie Mac said Thursday in its weekly nationwide survey of mortgage rates. This week's rate was down from 5.59 percent last week and marked the lowest rate since the week ended July 4, when rates averaged 5.40 percent.</br></br>Rates on 30-year mortgages were at 5.21 percent in the middle of June, the lowest level in more than four decades. Since then rates have bounced up and down. "Interest rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages edged closer to last year's record low figures," said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac's chief economist.</br></br>For 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, a popular option for refinancing, rates averaged 4.69 percent this week, compared with 4.88 percent last week.</br></br>Rates for one-year adjustable mortgages dipped to 3.41 percent, from 3.47 percent last week. This week's rate marked the lowest since Freddie Mac began tracking rates on one-year ARMs in 1984.