Mortgage rates stay in the basement

Survey shows slight uptick in demand for purchase loans

By Inman News, Thursday, November 3, 2011.
Inman News™

Mortgage rates sagged this week as ongoing concerns about the European debt crisis had investors fleeing to the relative safety of mortgage-backed securities that fund most U.S. home loans.

Rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 4 percent with an average 0.7 point for the week ending Nov. 3, down from 4.1 percent last week, Freddie Mac said in releasing the results of its latest Primary Mortgage Market Survey.

At this time a year ago, rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 4.24 percent before climbing to a 2011 high of 5.05 percent in February. Rates on the "plain vanilla" fixed-rate loan hit an all-time low in records dating to 1971 of 3.94 percent during the week ending Oct. 6.

Rates on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 3.31 percent with an average 0.7 point, down from 3.38 percent last week. The 15-year fixed-rate loan averaged 3.63 percent at this time last year before climbing to a 2011 high of 4.29 percent in February.