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Mortgage Rates at Lowest Point in Four Decades

  • April 30th 2009

by Mark Wellborn

Mortgage Rates at Lowest Point in Four Decades: Figure 1

Freddie Mac reported today that 30 year fixed-rate mortgages are now at 4.78 percent, the lowest they have been since 1970 when the mortgage and loan corporation started keeping track. The new rate is about 1.6 points lower than when rates peaked in October 2008.

In other news, Freddie Mac reported that 50 percent of borrowers who refinanced their home loan in the first quarter of 2009, lowered their annual mortgage interest rate by at least 20 percent.

In a press release on their website, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist Frank Nothaft said that “savings from ‘rate-and-term’ refinancing done during the quarter [works out] to about $160 a month on a $200,000 loan.” That is an annual savings of just under $2,000 a year.

To see related articles on this topic, click here and here.

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/mortgage_rates_at_lowest_point_in_four_decades/861.

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