Mortgage rates keep falling
Weekly national mortgage survey shows that rates continue falling the 4th week, more people are refinancing their home loans and fewer people are getting adjustable-rate mortgages (just 27.2% applied for adjustable-rate mortgages last week). The 30 year fixed-rate mortgage fell 6 basis points to 6.51%. A basis point is one-hundredth of 1 percentage point. The mortgages in this week’s survey had an average total of 0.33 discount and origination points. One year ago, the mortgage index was 5.88%; four weeks ago, it was 6.89%. The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage fell 2 basis points to 6.23%. The 5/1 adjustable-rate mortgage fell 4 basis points to 6.28%. Getting a fixed-rate loan is the logical move for a lot of borrowers, because the rates on ARMs aren’t as competitive as they used to be. A year ago, the average rate on a 5/1 ARM was 5.56%, or 32 basis points lower than the 30-year fixed. This week, the 5/1 ARM is 23 basis points lower than the 30-year fixed.