Freddie Mac released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey yesterday in which the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 4.85 percent for the week ending March 26, 2009. Last year at this time, the 30-year mortgage averaged 5.85 percent. The 30-year rate has not been lower in the life of Freddie Mac’s weekly survey, which dates back to 1971.
The 15-year rate this week averaged 4.58 percent, down from a year ago at this time when it averaged 5.34 percent. The 15-year rate has never been lower in the life of Freddie Mac’s weekly survey, which dates back to 1991 for the 15-year rate.
“The Federal Reserve’s announcement that it intends to purchase Treasury securities over the next six months caused bond yields to drop and mortgage rates followed,” said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist. “Rates for 30-Yr FRMs peaked last year at 6.63 percent on July 24th. With this week’s 30-Yr FRM, the interest rate difference is almost 2 percentage points, which amounts to a savings of about $225 in monthly mortgage payments for a $200,000 loan.”
“And potential homebuyers are taking notice of these historically low mortgage rates. Both new and existing home sales rose 5 percent in February. First-time homebuyers accounted for half of all existing home sales, according to the National Association of Realtors®. In addition, mortgage applications for home purchases consecutively rose over the first three weeks in March, based on figures published by the Mortgage Bankers Association.”
Reprinted under Fair Use from athensproperties.wordpress.com/. The author is Hank Bailey.
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