Rates on 30-year mortgages fell to a record level for a fourth straight week, dropping to the lowest mark since Freddie Mac started tracking the data nearly 28 years ago.
Rates have been falling since late November, when the Federal Reserve announced a plan to spend up to $500 billion to buy-up mortgage-backed securities in efforts to buttress the distressed U.S. housing market.
Freddie Mac reported today that average rates on 30-year fixed mortgages dropped to 5.01 percent this week, down from the previous record of 5.1 percent set last week. It was the 10th straight weekly drop, and nearly a full point below the rate of 5.87 percent at the same time last year.
Rates at are their lowest since the company started its survey in April 1971. They have declined nearly 1.5 percentage points since October, Freddie Mac said.
For a borrower taking out a $200,000 loan, that means a savings of more than $184 in monthly payments, according to Frank Nothaft, the mortgage finance company’s chief economist. (AP)
