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Bankrate, Freddie: Mortgage rates continue to plummet

By Palm Beach Business.com

DELRAY BEACH — If this sounds like a broken record, it is.

Mortgage rates dropped to new lows in both the Freddie Mac and Bankrate surveys, continuing a trend that's occurred throughout most of 2012, according to weekly reports released Thursday by both organizations.

Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey found the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaging 3.36 percent with 0.6 point, down from the previous week’s average of 3.40 percent. The 15-year fixed-rate similarly dropped, to 2.69 percent with 0.5 point from 2.73 percent a week earlier.

Bankrate found the 30-year averaging 3.52 percent with 0.44 point, down from 3.55 percent a week ago. The 15-year dropped to 2.84 percent with 0.29 point from 2.88 percent a week earlier.

Two weeks ago, the Freddie Mac survey had the 30-year at 3.50 percent and the Bankrate survey at 3.70 percent. The event that precipitated the drop in rates is clear cut: The latest Fed’s bond-buying program that focuses on mortgage-backed surveys.

Said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac’s chief economist:

"Fixed mortgage rates fell again this week to all-time record lows due to the mortgage securities purchases by the Federal Reserve and indicators of a weakening economy. The final estimate of growth in gross domestic product was revised down to 1.3 percent in the second quarter, representing the slowest growth in a year. In addition, personal incomes rose only 0.1 percent in August, while July's increase was revised downward. And finally, pending home sales in August fell 2.6 percent, well below the market consensus forecast of a slight increase."