Mortgage rates hit record lows: Freddie Mac

Fixed-rate and adjustable-rate mortgages break records this week

By Amy Hoak, MarketWatch

CHICAGO (MarketWatch) — Mortgage rates dropped to record lows this week, with 30-year fixed-rate mortgages falling to 3.89%, its sixth week below the 4% mark, according to Freddie Mac’s weekly survey of conforming mortgage rates.

The mortgage averaged 3.91% last week and 4.71% a year ago.

Rates on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 3.16% for the week ending Jan. 12, down from 3.23% last week and 4.08% a year ago.

Adjustable-rate mortgages also dropped, with 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid ARMs averaging 2.82%, down from 2.86% last week and 3.72% a year ago, according to the survey. One-year Treasury-indexed ARMs averaged 2.76%, down from 2.8% last week and 3.23% a year ago.

To obtain the rates, 30-year mortgages and 5-year ARMs required payment of an average 0.7 point, 15-year fixed-rate mortgages required an average 0.8 point and 1-year ARMs required an average 0.6 point. A point is 1% of the mortgage amount, charged as prepaid interest.

“Mortgage rates eased slightly this week to all-time record lows following mixed indicators in the labor market,” said Frank Nothaft, vice president and chief economist, Freddie Mac, in a news release.

“Although the economy added 1.6 million jobs in 2011, which was the most since 2006, the unemployment rate remained historically elevated. The 2009 to 2011 period had the highest three-year average unemployment rate since 1939 to 1941,” he said. The government’s official jobless rate for December was 8.5%.

Nothaft also pointed to the Federal Reserve’s regional economic review known as the Beige Book, released Wednesday. It indicated most industries “saw limited permanent hiring at the end of last year,” he said. 

Amy Hoak is a MarketWatch reporter based in Chicago.