Rates on three of four types of mortgages tracked in Freddie Mac’s weekly rate survey hit new records for the second week in a row, with 30-year fixed-rate mortgages averaging 4.58 percent with an average of 0.7 point during the week ending July 1.
Rates on 30-year fixed-rate loans are down from 4.69 percent last week and 5.32 percent a year ago, and at a new all-time low in records going back to 1971.
Rates for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages also hit a new low in records dating to 1991, dipping to 4.04 percent with an average 0.7 point, down from 4.13 percent last week and 4.77 percent a year ago.
Rates on 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) loans averaged 3.79 percent this week with an average 0.7 point, a new low in records dating to January 2005. The 5-year ARM averaged 3.84 percent last week and 4.88 percent a year ago.
The 1-year Treasury-indexed ARM averaged 3.8 percent with an average 0.7 point, up from 3.77 percent last week and 4.94 percent a year ago.
Rates surveyed by Freddie Mac are for prime borrowers taking out loans with 20 percent downpayments. Borrowers taking out loans too large or risky for purchase or guarantee by Freddie Mac can expect to pay more.
Mortgage rates have tumbled in recent weeks as worries about the European debt crisis and the prospects of a double-dip recession have investors fleeing stocks for safer investments in bonds and mortgage-backed securities guaranteed by the government.
The new lows have spurred homeowners to refinance, but don’t appear to be igniting interest among homebuyers.
The Mortgage Bankers Association reported this week that applications for purchase loans were down 3.3 percent from the week before during the week ending June 25, and down 36 percent from a year ago.
The MBA said demand for refinancings grew by 12.6 percent from the previous week, and applications for refinance loans accounted for 76.8 percent of all mortgage applications.
