Rates Fall Further

The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate fell from 6.48% to 6.44% over the seven-day period ended Aug. 31, according to Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey.The average 15-year fixed mortgage rate fell from 6.18% to 6.14%, the average rate for five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages declined from 6.14% to 6.11%, and the average rate for one-year Treasury-indexed ARMs decreased from 5.60% to 5.59%, Freddie Mac reported. Fees and points averaged 0.4 of a point for fixed-rate mortgages, 0.5 of a point for hybrid ARMs, and 0.7 of a point for one-year ARMs. "Mortgage rates continued to drift lower this week in large part because of the cooling in the housing market and in consumer confidence, thus giving financial markets reason to believe that economic growth will moderate and inflation will remain in check," said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac's chief economist. "As a matter of fact, the 30-year FRM is nearly 40 basis points lower than its peak of 6.8% in July of this year." A year ago, the average 30-year and 15-year fixed rates were 5.71% and 5.32%, respectively, and the average hybrid and one-year ARM rates were 5.30% and 4.48%, respectively, Freddie Mac said. Freddie Mac can be found online at http://www.freddiemac.com.