The average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage fell to 3.4% the week ended April 25, according to a Freddie Mac survey out Thursday. That's down from 3.41% the prior week and headed toward the record low of 3.31% hit in late November. The same week last year, 30-year fixed mortgage rates averaged 3.88%.
Even better, for those who qualify, the average rate on a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage hit a record low of 2.61% this week, down from 2.64% in the prior week. Freddie Mac began keeping nationwide average records in 1971.
"The housing market is getting a boost with mortgage rates hovering at or near record lows," said Frank Nothaft, a vice president and chief economist at Freddie Mac.
Nothaft cited:
• Existing home sales averaged an annualized pace of 4.9 million the first three months of the year, the most since the fourth quarter of 2009.
• New home sales topped 424,000 during the first quarter, the strongest showing since the third quarter of 2008.
• February marked the thirteenth consecutive month the Federal Housing Finance Agency has recorded an annual rise in its U.S. house price index, which rose by 7.1% in the twelve months through February, the most since May 2006.
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However, despite the gains, Nothaft added, FIFA's home price index is still 13.6% below its peak set in April 2007.
In its weekly survey of mortgage lenders nationwide, Freddie Mac said a key adjustable rate mortgages also hit a record low this week. The average rate on the 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage fell to an all-time low of 2.58% from 2.6% a week earlier. That type of mortgage has been available nationwide since 2005.
And the 1-year Treasury-indexed ARM ticked down to 2.62% in the latest week from 2.63% a week earlier, Freddie Mac said.
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