Mortgage Rates: Down They Go Again

Mortgage rates fell for the third week in a row, with the average 30-year, fixed-rate loan going for 3.81 percent, down from 3.92 percent last week.

That’s the lowest they’ve been since October, according to Freddie Mac, which surveys lenders every week. And given all that’s going on in the world–stock market woes, falling oil prices, and economic unease in China–it’s a decent bet home loans will get even cheaper, at least in the near term.

“The Freddie Mac mortgage rate survey had difficulty keeping up with market events this week,” Freddie chief economist Sean Becketti said, as weak inflation and “nonstop financial market turbulence” drove investors to financial safe havens.
Freddie’s survey was all but done late by late yesterday, before spooked investors made a mad dash to buy U.S. Treasurys, a rally that pushed the yield on 10-year notes below 2 percent.
Translation: Global unease made it cheaper for the U.S. government to borrow yesterday. When that happens, it usually gets cheaper for homeowners to borrow, too.
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