30-Year Mortgage Rate Drops

The average 30-year fixed rate tracked by Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market survey fell from 6.24% to 6.20% for the week ending Nov. 21.The average 15-year fixed mortgage rate dropped from 5.88% to 5.83%, the average rate for five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages decreased from 5.96% to 5.88%, and the average rate for one-year Treasury-indexed ARMs declined from 5.50% to 5.42%, Freddie Mac reported. Fees and points averaged 0.5 of a point for fixed-rate mortgages and hybrid ARMs and 0.6 of a point for one-year ARMs. "Both the producer price index and the consumer price index remained contained in October while industrial production fell," said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac's chief economist. "This allowed interest rates for the 30-year FRM to decline to the lowest levels since early May 2007 and the 15-year FRM to decline to a level not experienced since early last year." A year ago, the average 30-year and 15-year fixed rates were 6.18% and 5.91%, respectively and the average hybrid and one-year ARM rates were 5.99% and 5.49%, Freddie said. Freddie can be found online at http://www.freddiemac.com.