Mortgage Rates Hit Four Month Low!

Portland Business Journal

Mortgage rates resumed their decline this week falling to the lowest level in four months.
Freddie Mac says 30-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 4.94 percent with an average 0.7 point for the week ending Oct. 1, down from last week when they averaged 5.04 percent. Long-term mortgage rates a year ago averaged 6.1 percent.
The last time the 30-year fixed rate average was below 5 percent was the week ending May 28, 2009, when it averaged 4.91 percent. Rates fell to a record low of 4.78 percent in March.
The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage average fell to 4.36 percent with an average 0.6 point, down from last week when it averaged 4.46 percent and the lowest since Freddie Mac started tracking it in 1991.
A year ago, 15-year fixed rate mortgages averaged 5.78 percent.
The one-year Treasury-indexed adjustable rate mortgage averaged 4.42 percent this week down from last week when it averaged 4.51 percent.
“Low mortgage rates are helping to stabilize home sales,” said Freddie Mac chief economist Frank Nothaft. “New home sales in August rose to the highest annualized pace since September 2008 and the inventory of unsold houses fell to the lowest level since February 1983.