Freddie Mac released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey® in which the 30-year mortgage rate averaged 5.01 percent for the week ending January 8, 2009. This rate was down from last week when it averaged 5.10 percent.
At this time last year, the 30-year averaged 5.87 percent. According to the press release the 30-year FRM has not been lower since Freddie Mac started the Primary Mortgage Market Survey in 1971.
The 15-year note this week averaged 4.62 percent, down from last week when it averaged 4.83 percent. A year ago at this time, the 15-year FRM averaged 5.43 percent. The 15-year FRM has not been lower since June 13, 2003, when it averaged 4.60 percent according to the press release from Freddie.
“Interest rates for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages fell for the tenth week to a fourth consecutive record low due in part to the Federal Reserve’s recent purchases of mortgage-backed securities issued by Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae and Ginnie Mae,” said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist. “On November 25, 2008, the Federal Reserve announced that it planned to purchase up to $500 billion of these securities by the end of June of this year. For the sake of comparison, there were roughly $4.7 trillion of such securities backed by home mortgages available as of September 30, 2008.
“Since the end of October 2008, these rates have declined by almost 1 1/2 percentage points, or payment savings of about $184 a month for a $200,000 loan – an additional $11 dollars from last week.”
