Mortgage rates hit yearly lows

Mortgage rates continued to slide downward this week, reaching a new yearly low of 4.06 percent on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage. Rates on a 30-year mortgage were at 4.07 percent last week and 4.66 percent at this time last year.

“Mortgage rates fell for the fourth consecutive week and continued the medium-term trend of lower rates since late 2018,” Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist, said in a statement. “The drop in mortgage rates is causing purchase demand to rise and the mix of demand is skewing to the higher end as more affluent consumers are typically more responsive to declines in rates.”

Rates on a 15-year mortgage averaged 3.51 percent, down from last week’s 3.53 percent and the 4.15 percent rate at this time last year. The average rate on a five-year treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage actually ticked up slightly month-over-month, from 3.66 percent to 3.68 percent, but was still down from last year’s 3.87 percent.

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