Freddie Mac said Thursday that the average weekly rate for a 30-year mortgage has inched down to another record low.
The average rate for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage during the week ending Dec. 22 slid three more basis points to 3.91% and the average 15-year FRM rate maintained the record low it set the previous week at 3.21%.
Shorter-term rates also slid, with the average for the five-year hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage falling a basis point to 2.85% and the one-year Treasury ARM four basis points lower at 2.77%.
Average points during the most recent week were 0.7 for 30-year FRMs, 0.8 for 15-year FRMs, and 0.6 for five-year Treasury hybrids and one-year Treasury ARMs.
Thirty-year rates have now been at or below 4% for eight consecutive weeks, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist Frank Nothaft said in his weekly rate report.
He said that translates to a savings for consumers of, for example, over $1,200 less per year on a $200,000 loan.
Year-ago rates for the loan types Freddie tracks are as follows: 4.81% for 30-year FRMs, 4.15% for 15-year FRMs, 3.75% for five-year Treasury hybrids and 3.4% for one-year Treasury ARMs.
Going into next year, rates in general could continue to be low in part due to policy, according to some economists.
"We have every reason to think that the Fed will be ultra-accommodative," said Tom Porcelli, chief U.S. economist at RBC Capital Markets, in his company's recent 2012 outlook conference call.
Porcelli also said that while he does not necessarily agree with such an action there could specifically be more quantitative easing related to MBS.
