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Freddie Mac Real Estate Survey: Mortgage Rates Continue Slide

Mortgage rates continue to slide and are now down below 4 percent. This is according to a survey done by Freddie Mac, with results released to the public.

According to Realtor Mag, in the last three weeks, mortgage rates were continuously dropping down and Freddie Mac says that the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rate has fallen below 4 percent.

Sean Becketti, Freddie Mac's Chief Economist, said that the mortgage rate survey had difficulty keeping up with market events this week. He added that the 30-year mortgage rate has dropped to 3.81 percent, which is the lowest it has been in three months. The continued drop of mortgage prices is an indication that the price growth is closing in on its lowest level. This is making investors feel confident about the prospects of investing because it limits their exposure to losses in the event of market downturns.

Freddie Mac's report showed the following national averages with mortgage rates for the week ending Jan. 21. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgages dropped from 3.92 percent to 3.81 percent with an average point of 0.6. The 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, which averaged 3.19 percent last week dropped down to 3.10 percent and an average point of 0.5 percent. The five-year hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages with an average of 3.01 percent last week declined to 2.91 percent with an average of 0.5 point.

Meanwhile, in the report by Providence Journal, mortgage experts expect that the 30-year mortgage rates will stay below 4.25 percent this year. James Bianco, the president of Bianco Research, said that the current drop in mortgage rates has surprised everybody. Many did not expect that this would happen since people expected it to go up, not down. This has prompted many investors to pull out their money and put it into the government bonds in order to protect their investments.


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