Rates End Year at Survey-Record Lows

The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate fell to a survey-record low of 5.93% for the week ending Dec. 27 from 6.03% the previous week, according to Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey.Freddie Mac began tracking the rate in 1971, but the government-sponsored enterprise said it has not been this low since 1965. (The previous survey low was the 5.94% recorded several weeks ago.) The average 15-year fixed mortgage rate fell from 5.42% to 5.32%, matching a survey-record low from November, while the average rate for one-year Treasury-indexed adjustable-rate mortgages dropped from 4.07% to 4.01%, its lowest level since Freddie Mac started tracking it in 1984. Fees and points averaged 0.6 points for all three mortgage categories. "The annual average for the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rate this year was about 6.5%, the lowest annual average in more than 31 years," said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac's chief economist. "That was the primary factor that led to an incredible amount of homebuilding, home sales, and refinancing, all of which helped keep the economy from another recession." A year ago, the average 30-year and 15-year fixed rates were 7.16% and 6.65%, respectively, and the average one-year ARM rate was 5.25%, Freddie Mac said. Freddie Mac can be found on the Web at http://www.freddiemac.com.