January 24, 2008 – U.S. fixed-rate mortgages for the week ending January 17 fell to their lowest levels since the spring of 2004, Freddie Mac released Thursday in its weekly mortgage survey. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 5.48%, down from 5.69% a week ago and 6.25% year-over-year, and its lowest since March 2004. The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 4.95%, down from 5.21% and 5.98% one week and one year ago, respectively. Read the full release from the Freddie Mac website.
Falling mortgage rates are going to make the variable-rate resets a lot less painful and shorten the period of falling housing prices.
JR
