Mortgage Rates Slide for a 7th Straight Week
A week of troubling economic data helped push fixed mortgage interest rates to a new low for the year, representing the seventh consecutive weekly decline, according to the latest survey from Freddie Mac.</br></br>Surveys of national consumer confidence and manufacturing activity in the past month have suggested the economy may be slowing, said Freddie Mac Chief Economist Frank Nothaft. The S&P Case-Shiller National Home Price Index, meanwhile, showed first-quarter home prices fell by the steepest annual rate since the third quarter of 2009.</br></br>"Fixed mortgage rates followed U.S. Treasury yields lower this week amid financial market concerns that the current lull in the economy is continuing," Mr. Nothaft said.</br></br>The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 4.55% in the week ended Thursday, down from 4.60% the prior week and 4.79% a year earlier. Rates on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages fell to 3.74% from 3.78% the previous week and 4.20% a year earlier.</br></br>Five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages held steady from last week at 3.41%, but are down from 3.94% a year earlier. One-year Treasury-indexed ARM rates rose to 3.13% from 3.11% the prior week but are down from 3.95% a year earlier.