Mortgage rates at record lows

Mortgage rates at record lows

 Freddie Macs weekly survey of average interest rates put the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) at 4.83% with an average 0.7 points for the week ending Nov. 12, down from the average rate of 4.91% the previous week. Thats a mere 5 basis points shy of Freddie Macs record low of 30-year FRM rates, reached twice in April this year. Last year, the rate was 6.04%.  Freddie Mac put the 15-year FRM at 4.32% with an average 0.6 points, down from last weeks 4.4% and the lowest rate for the product since Freddie Mac began its 15-year FRM survey in 1991. A year ago, the average rate for the loan was 5.73%.  Bankrate.coms survey of large US banks and thrifts put the 30-year FRM at 5.06%, the lowest in the surveys 24-year history and down 13 basis points from the previous week. The previous low on the Bankrate survey was 5.13% in April. Bankrate.com put the average rate for a 15-year FRM at 4.48%, down 13 basis points from the previous week.  Low fixed rates throughout

  the third quarter prompted an estimated $1.1 trillion in refinancing activity, saving homeowners about $10 billion in aggregate monthly payments over the first 12 months of their new loan, said Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist Frank Nothaft. Moreover, for the fourth consecutive quarter, more than 95% of prime borrowers who originally had an ARM selected a conventional fixed-rate mortgage in the third quarter of this year