Mortgage rates reach new record lows: Freddie

Mortgage interest rates reached new record lows this week as consumer confidence declined, according data from Freddie Mac for the week ending today. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged a record-low 4.56 percent, down from 4.57 percent last week and 5.2 percent last year. Freddie Mac began tracking interest rates for the 30-year mortgage in 1971. The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage also hit a 19-year record low 4.03 percent average interest rate, down from 4.06 percent last week and 4.68 percent last year at this time. Interest rates also dropped for the five-year and one-year Treasury-indexed adjustable-rate mortgages, which averaged 3.79 percent and 3.7 percent, respectively this week. “The decline in mortgages rates over the past few weeks echoes the recent signs of weakening confidence in the strength of the economy, particularly the housing and consumer sectors,” said Frank Nothaft, vice president and chief economist at Freddie Mac, who cited reported drops in home builder confidence and consumer confidence in July as evidence of the trend. Still, he added, “we see these as part of the normal pattern of ebbs and flows in recovery and believe that there is sufficient momentum to carry the U.S. economy forward, albeit moderately.” TRD

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