Mortgage rates fall below 3 percent

Mortgage rates didn’t move much this week but they went down enough to cross a significant marker.

According to the latest data released Thursday by Freddie Mac, the 30-year fixed-rate average slipped to 2.99 percent with an average 0.8 point. (Points are fees paid to a lender equal to 1 percent of the loan amount and are in addition to the interest rate.) It was 3.01 percent a week ago and 3.75 percent a year ago. It is just the second time the 30-year fixed rate has fallen below 3 percent. It was 2.98 percent two weeks ago.

Freddie Mac, the federally chartered mortgage investor, aggregates rates from around 80 lenders across the country to come up with weekly national average mortgage rates. It uses rates for high-quality borrowers who tend to have strong credit scores and large down payments. These rates are not available to every borrower.

The 15-year fixed-rate average slid to 2.51 percent with an average 0.7 point. It was 2.54 percent a week ago and 3.20 percent a year ago. The five-year adjustable rate average fell to 2.94 percent with an average 0.4 point. It was 3.09 percent a week ago and 3.46 percent a year ago.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/07/30/mortgage-rates-fall-below-3-percent-again/