Rates on home loans dip / 30-year mortgages hit 5.67 percent; others also drop

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(02-10) 04:00 Pacific Time American Capital - --

Rates on 30-year mortgages dipped slightly last week, the 5th diminution in the past six weeks.

Freddie Mac, the mortgage company, reported that 30-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 5.67 percentage last week, down from 5.68 percentage a hebdomad earlier.

The 30-year mortgage, which ended last twelvemonth at 6.17 percent, have been below 6 percentage for five weeks, a stretch that have not been seen since 2005.

Analysts attributed the diminutions in mortgage rates to growing fearfulnesses that the state could be slipping into a recession.

The Labor Department reported that concerns cut 17,000 occupations in January, the first monthly occupation loss since August 2003, while the Institute for Supply Management's index for the service sector dropped sharply in January to the last degree since October 2001, right after the terrorist attacks.

"Economic news released in the past hebdomad showed that the economic system goes on to be weak," said Frank Nothaft, main economic expert for Freddie Mac.

Another factor pushing mortgage rates less was the recent determination by the Federal Soldier Modesty to cut a cardinal involvement charge per unit for a 2nd clip in January as Federal policymakers moved aggressively to take down adoption costs in an attempt to maintain the state out of a recession.

Analysts are hoping that this low degree for mortgage rates will assist goad a recoil in the lodging market, which suffered steep diminutions last twelvemonth in gross sales of both new and existent homes.

But new information showed that lodging goes on to be in the doldrums. The National Association of Realtors reported that pending place gross sales drop by 1.5 percentage in December to the second-lowest reading on record. The index for pending sales, those where a contract have been signed but the house have not gone to closing, dropped by 1.5 percentage in December to a reading of 85.9, just short of a record-low of 85.5 hit in August.

Other mortgage rates also declined. Rates on 15-year mortgages dipped to 5.15 percent, compared with 5.17 percentage a hebdomad earlier.

Rates on five-year adjustable-rate mortgages declined to 5.21 percentage last week, down from 5.32 percent. One-year adjustable-rate mortgages drop to 5.03 percent, down from 5.05 percent.

The mortgage rates make not include points. Thirty-year mortgages, 15-year mortgages and five-year adjustable-rate mortgages all carried a countrywide norm fee of 0.4 of a point. One-year ARMs had an norm fee of 0.5 of a point.

A twelvemonth ago, 30-year mortgages stood at 6.28 percentage while rates on 15-year mortgages were at 6.02 percent. Five-year adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 5.99 percentage and one-year ARMs were at 5.49 percentage this clip a twelvemonth ago.