Freddie Mac: 30 year mortgage at 4.19%, lowest since 1951

By: Nathan Becker
The Wall Street Journal

Longer-term mortgage rates declined the past week, with the average rate on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages furthering its all-time low for the third consecutive week to 4.19%, according to Freddie Mac's weekly survey of mortgage rates.

The 30- and 15-year fixed-rate mortgages and the five-year adjustable-rate all sit at their record lows, with Freddie tracking the 30-year since 1971, the 15-year since 1991 and the five-year since 2005. Freddie said that using data from the Federal Housing Administration, the last time the 30-year was this low was April 1951.

Rates have slumped for months, setting record lows in the process, as yields on Treasurys have fallen amid economic uncertainty. Mortgage rates generally track the yields, which move inversely to Treasury prices.

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 4.19% for the week ended Thursday, down from the prior week's 4.27% average and 4.92% a year ago. Rates on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages were 3.62%, falling from 3.72% and 4.37%, respectively.

Five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 3.47%, flat on the week and down from 4.38% last year. One-year Treasury-indexed ARMs were 3.43%, up from 3.4% the prior week but down from 4.6% a year earlier.