Figures from Freddie Mac show that the average interest rate was down to 4.72 %, which is lower than the average rate of 4.79 % of the preceding week. It was just a bit higher than the record low of 4.71 % which was hit in December of 2009.
For a fifteen year fixed loan, the rate was 4.17 %, which dropped from the 4.2 % of the prior week. This rate was the lowest recorded since August of 1991.
Despite the low level of mortgage interest rates, the housing market does not seem to be doing much better. The number of buyers that applied for a mortgage was down to the lowest number in thirteen years as of this past week and was lower by 35 % from the preceding month.
This drop may be a result of the expiration at the end of April of the Federal Tax Credit for first time home purchasers.
The Federal Government has done much to aid the housing market in its recovery. A drive by the Federal Reserve to lower the cost of obtaining mortgages lowered rates to extremely low levels during 2009. Although interest rates were anticipated to go up when the program expired this Spring, they have dropped during the last two months.
Many investors who have been concerned about the continuing debt conditions in Europe as well as the sometimes dramatically fluctuating stock market, have placed their money into safe United States Treasury Bonds. That has caused the interest rate (yield) on the debt of the United States Treasury to drop. This in turn has lowered the fixed interest rates on mortgages as they usually have a tendency to follow that yield.
