Mortgage rates fall again, hit new lows

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(MoneyWatch) Fixed mortgage rates continue to fall, according to Freddie Mac's latest Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS). The average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) has matched or hit a new record low for 10 of the last 11 weeks.

The 1-year adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) also reached a new low this week.

Mortgage rates for the week ending July 5, 2012, are as follows:

The 30-year FRM averaged 3.62 percent, down from last week's average of 3.66 percent. One year ago, the 30-year FRM averaged 4.60 percent.

The average for a 15-year FRM was 2.89 percent this week, down from last week's average of 2.94 percent. At this time last year, the 15-year FRM averaged 3.75 percent.

5-year Treasury-indexed ARM rates averaged 2.79 percent, unchanged from last week. A year ago, the 5-year ARM averaged 3.30 percent.

A 1-year Treasury-indexed ARM averaged 2.68 percent this week, a new record low. This is down from last week's average of 2.74 percent, and a significant decrease from last year's average of 3.01 percent.

"Recent economic data releases of less consumer spending and a contraction in the manufacturing industry drove long-term Treasury bond yields lower over the week and allowed fixed mortgage rates to hit new all-time record lows," Frank Nothaft, vice president and chief economist for Freddie Mac, said in a press release Thursday.

"Growth in personal expenditures was revised downward to an annualized rate of 2.5 percent in the final GDP estimates for the first quarter of the year," Nothaft continued. "In addition, monthly consumer spending in April was revised from a 0.3 percent gain to 0.1 percent and was unchanged in May. Finally, the Institute for Supply Management reported that manufacturing shrank in June, the first decline since July 2009."

New taxes on forgiven mortgage debt to hit homeowners
How big of a house do you need?

If you have the cash and are on the market for a new home, now's the time to dive in. The combination of low mortgage rates and affordable home prices make this a great time to buy. Just make sure your credit is in good shape, since lenders are less willing to write loans for "risky" borrowers.

[Revermortgage]

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[wizardlady]

I am totally disappointed with President OBAMA's failure to live up to his campaign promises. However, I realize that he took office facing an EIGHT YEAR destructive reign of Bush/Cheney spending/lies/wars which damaged our country far more than the 9/11 attack ever could. IF he had received cooperation from the REPUBLICANS and both parties had focused on IMPROVING our country instead of DIVIDING it, we would now be seeing a brighter future.

He needs to do something fantastic to show he has strong leadership, something other than supporting gay marriage (a vote getting tactic),something that would say to the Republicans "I tried working with you and got no support, now I must show the people that I can do what is best for the country. (De-criminalizing marijuana from the federal prospective would be a hot issue!!! Think of all the young people whose lives are forever marred by charges, prison time, and public disdain for possessing this weed which the President himself admitted to using.)

[CaptainSmollett]

Oh, but he has done something...he produced another bad jobs report. That's 42 in a row. So he has done wonders in destroying the "American Dream".

[kayslug]

Things are getting better under Obama. Give him 4 more years. He had monumental mess to clean up after the Republican administration.

We don't need a state's right guy like Romney to send us back into the past. See Romney's take on Justice Robert's ruling, today's news at CBS website.

[CaptainSmollett]

HAHAHAHA...Obama is an utter and absolute failure. Four more years an we'll still have a monumental mess.

[Dreadnut]

You do understand these low rates are a symptom of how bad the housing market is doing? Basically, they can't even give away money because there are so few new buyers, and so few people who can refinance due to the depressed value of their homes.