30-Year Mortgages Drop Below 7%

Thirty-year fixed-rate mortgages fell below 7% this week for the first time in nearly two years, Freddie Mac reported. The mortgage company said they averaged 6.99%, down from 7.07% last week and the lowest since they dropped to 6.94% during the week of Feb. 15, 1996. Mortgage rates have been keying off the U.S. Treasury securities market, where investors fleeing Asian turmoil have been snapping up bonds. On one-year adjustable-rate mortgages, lenders were asking an average initial rate of 5.53%, up from 5.51% last week. Fifteen-year mortgages, a popular option for those refinancing mortgages, averaged 6.57% this week, down from 6.65% a week earlier. The rates do not include add-on fees known as points.