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3.99: Mortgage Rates Dip Below 4 Percent — Again

  • November 20th 2014

by Lark Turner

3.99: Mortgage Rates Dip Below 4 Percent — Again: Figure 1

Rates on 30-year mortgages dropped below 4 percent again on Thursday when Freddie Mac reported 3.99 percent with a 0.5 point as the average on a 30-year fixed mortgage, just below last week’s rate of 4.01 percent. A year ago, long-term rates were 4.22 percent.

Rates have been hovering around 4 percent for weeks even as Freddie Mac recently predicted that they will rise to 5 percent by the end of next year.

The decline is thanks in part to a slowdown in housing data, Freddie Mac’s chief economist Frank Nothaft said in a news release.

“Fixed mortgage rates were slightly down as housing starts declined 2.8 percent in October below the upwardly revised September rate. However, building permits increased 4.8 percent in October after a 2.8 percent boost a month earlier. Lastly, industrial production slipped by 0.1 percent in October, below the market consensus forecast.”

A similar mix of good and bad economic news has kept the rates stagnant in prior weeks as well, Nothaft has said.

UrbanTurf is following the path of rates in this chart:

3.99: Mortgage Rates Dip Below 4 Percent — Again: Figure 2

See other articles related to: mortgage rates

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/3.99_mortgage_rates_dip_below_4_percent_again1/9247.

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