Mortgage Rates Near 60-year Lows

By Stevie Duffin Updated on 9/25/2013

According to Freddie Mac, the national average for fixed mortgage rates dropped again for the week ending March 1, keeping them near their 60-year lows.

The 30 year fixed-rate mortgage is averaging 3.90% for the week, which is slightly down from 3.95% for last week.  This same rate was actually at 4.87% a year ago.

Additionally, other products slipped as well such as the 15-year Fixed Rate Mortgage which hit 3.17%.  This rate is actually down from 3.19% a week ago and it stood at 4.15% same time last year.

There was an uptick in the 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) which averaged 2.83% this week, up from 2.80% the week before and 3.72% a year ago.

The one-year ARM hit was at 2.72% inching down from 2.73% a week earlier and quite a bit lower percentage wise from the 3.23% last year.

Fixed mortgage rates did bottom out in the first two months of this year which is has helped fuel the real estate market activity.  Another great component helping the recovery of the housing market will be the much anticipated HARP 2 program.  We have have dedicated a page on Lender411 to explain HARP 2 Program Details.

Because of the low rates, the existing home sales rose in January to its strongest pace since April 2010. In addition, according to the Federal Reserve's Beige Book, residential real estate activity also increased modestly in most of its Districts with many reporting increased home sales for the first two months of 2012.