Friday, July 17, 2020 / by Scott Shine
Mortgage Rates fall below 3% for first time since 1971!
WASHINGTON (New York Times) – The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 2.98 percent this week, falling below 3 percent for the first time since Freddie Mac began tracking the metric in April 1971.
The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage fell to a record low of 2.48 percent. Rates have dropped almost 2 percentage points over the past year and a half, helping drive up homebuying demand and keeping home prices from dropping during the COVID-19-related recession.
For a mortgage in the amount of the national median home price (around $285,000), the rate drops this year would save a borrower more than $100 a month in payments and roughly $50,000 over the course of the loan.
Applications for home-purchase and refinance loans increased 5.1 percent in the past week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.
The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage fell to a record low of 2.48 percent. Rates have dropped almost 2 percentage points over the past year and a half, helping drive up homebuying demand and keeping home prices from dropping during the COVID-19-related recession.
For a mortgage in the amount of the national median home price (around $285,000), the rate drops this year would save a borrower more than $100 a month in payments and roughly $50,000 over the course of the loan.
Applications for home-purchase and refinance loans increased 5.1 percent in the past week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.
