Mortgage rates fell for the 11th consecutive week, making their way below five percent for the first time ever, according to mortgage financier Freddie Mac.
During the week ending January 15, the average 30-year fixed priced at a record low 4.96 percent, down from the previous week’s 5.01 percent.
“Interest rates for 30-year fixed rate mortgages fell for the 11th straight week to another record low, due in part to the slowing economy and government actions,” said Freddie Mac chief economist Frank Nothaft, in a statement.
“So far, the U.S. Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve have added over $100 billion in liquidity to the mortgage market since September 2008, which put downward pressure on interest rates for fixed rate mortgages.”
Meanwhile, the 15-year fixed seemed to have bottomed out last week, and actually inched up three basis points to 4.65 percent.
ARMs kept heading south, with the five-year falling to 5.25 percent from 5.49 percent and the one-year dipping to 4.89 percent from 4.95 percent.
A year ago, the 30-year averaged 5.69 percent, the 15-year 5.21 percent, the five-year 5.40 percent, and the one-year 5.26 percent.
These rates are good for conforming loan amounts with a loan-to-value of 80 percent, a problem both for those with little or no equity and those with jumbo loans.
Jumbo loans are still pricing much higher, to the tune of 7.75 percent for a 30-year fixed over at Wells Fargo.
Luckily, new legislation could bump the high-cost conforming jumbo limit back up to $729,750, helping out some of those homeowners in expensive metropolitan areas on the fringe.
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