3.37: Rates Hover Near Record Lows

• October 18th 2012

by Shilpi Paul

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Mortgage rates hover near record lows again this week.

This morning, Freddie Mac reported 3.37 percent with an average 0.7 point as the average on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage. Rates have now been below 3.5 percent for the past four weeks, reaching a record low of 3.36 in the first week of October.

From Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist Frank Nothaft:

Mortgage rates remained more or less unchanged this week as home construction builds up steam. Construction on single-family homes jumped to an annualized rate of 11 percent in August, the strongest pace since August 2008. Over the first nine months of the year, single-family starts were 23 percent higher than the same period last year. Moreover, homebuilder confidence rose for the sixth consecutive month in October to the highest level since June 2006, according to the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index.

The UrbanTurf Mortgage Rate Disclaimer: The rates reported by Freddie Mac for 30-year mortgages are usually the best rates that the most qualified borrowers can get, so borrowers or those considering refinancing should not necessarily read this news and think that they can go out and get a loan with the quoted interest rate.

Here’s a look at the path of rates since January 2010:

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/3.37_rates_hover_near_record_lows/6180.