"Rates on 30-year mortgages set a record for a fifth straight week by dropping to below 5 percent, the lowest mark since Freddie Mac started tracking the data in 1971.
Mortgage rates have been dropping since late November, when the Federal Reserve said it was going to pump money into the banking system by buying $500 billion in mortgage-backed securities to get banks to lend more money and perhaps aid the ailing U.S. housing market.
Freddie Mac reported Thursday that average rates on 30-year fixed mortgages dropped to 4.96 percent this week, down from the previous record of 5.01 percent established last week. It was the 11th straight weekly drop, and way below the rate of 5.69 percent at the same time last year.
Rates at are their lowest since the company started its survey in April 1971, Freddie Mac said."
This is great news, and consistent with this, lenders that we have been talking to tell us that they have seen mortgage applications more than double since this began. Between this and there still being 14 months residential inventory on the market, it should be all the motivation buyers need to get off the fence and get out and find themselves a great deal!
-Kyle