Rates Drop to 6-Month Lows

The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate dropped to 5.66% for the week ending Jan. 16 from 5.87% the previous week as mortgage rates fell to six-month lows, according to Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey.The average 15-year fixed mortgage rate fell from 5.17% to 4.97%, and the average rate for one-year Treasury-indexed adjustable-rate mortgages declined from 3.76% to 3.62%. Fixed rates were at their lowest levels since the week ended July 11, 2003, and the ARM rate was the lowest since the week ended July 18, Freddie Mac said. Fees and points averaged 0.6 of a point for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages and 0.7 of a point for ARMs and 15-year FRMs. "Expecting job growth on the order of about 150,000 in December, financial markets were taken aback, to say the least, when those figures came in at only around a thousand new jobs," said Amy Crews Cutts, Freddie Mac's deputy chief economist. "The lackluster employment report had a chilling effect on the market's recent exuberance, causing mortgage rates to slide to this week's low levels." A year ago, the average 30-year and 15-year fixed rates were 5.97% and 5.36%, respectively, and the average one-year ARM rate was 4.03%, Freddie Mac said. Freddie Mac can be found online at http://www.freddiemac.com.