Posted on: Friday, June 13, 2003
Mortgage rates continue to reach new lows
| • | Current mortgage rates |
By Jeannine Aversa
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Mortgage rates slid to new lows this week, good news for people looking to buy a home or refinance the one they already own.
The average rate on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages dropped to a record low of 5.21 percent for the week ending June 13, Freddie Mac, the mortgage giant, said yesterday in its weekly national survey.
In Hawai'i, rates for 30-year mortgages dropped this week to 4.94 percent, the lowest level in recent records. The rate for 15-year mortgages dropped to 4.5 percent, according to an average of more than 40 local mortgage lenders' annual percentage rates reported by the Honolulu Board of Realtors.
The national numbers marked the fifth straight week and the tenth time this year that rates on the benchmark mortgages fell to a record weekly low.
This week's rate surpassed the previous low of 5.26 percent set last week. The new rate marks the lowest since Freddie Mac began tracking 30-year mortgages in 1971. Records reaching back earlier indicate the rate is the lowest in more than four decades, economists said.
Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac's chief economist, said mortgage rates dipped this week in anticipation that the Federal Reserve will reduce short-term interest rates at its June 24-25 meeting.
For 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, a popular option for refinancing, rates fell to a record low of 4.60 percent this week, besting last week's rate of 4.66 percent, which had been the previous all-time weekly low. This week's rate was the lowest level since Freddie Mac began tracking 15-year mortgages in 1991.
Rates for one-year adjustable mortgages declined to a new low of 3.54 percent, down from last week's rate of 3.59 percent.
Refinancings accounted for 76.9 percent of all mortgage applications filed last week, up from 76.7 percent the week before, the Mortgage Bankers Association of America reported.
