Mortgage rates dip for fifth straight week

WASHINGTON – Rates on 30-year mortgages fell for a fifth consecutive week as sales of both existing and new homes in July declined, confirming a cooling housing market.

The mortgage company Freddie Mac said Thursday that 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages fell to 6.48 percent this week, down from 6.52 percent last week.

That was the lowest level for 30-year mortgages since they averaged 6.43 percent the week of April 6.

Mortgages had risen since then, hitting a more than four-year high of 6.80 percent the week of July 20 before falling in the past five weeks.

Analysts view the rollback in rates as further evidence that the economy is slowing, which should ease inflation pressures.

Sales of new homes dropped in July by the largest amount since February while the inventory of unsold homes climbed to a record high, the Commerce Department reported Thursday. That followed news Wednesday from the National Association of Realtors that sales of previously owned homes slid 4.1 percent in July to a 21/2-year low.

Rates on 15-year, fixed-rate mortgages, a popular choice for refinancing, averaged 6.18 percent this week, down from 6.20 percent last week.

For one-year adjustable-rate mortgages, rates dipped to 5.60 percent from 5.65 percent last week. Rates on five-year adjustable-rate mortgages declined to 6.14 percent this week from 6.18 percent last week.

The mortgage rates do not include add-on fees known as points. Thirty-year mortgages and 15-year mortgages both carried a nationwide average fee of 0.4 point. One-year ARMs carried a nationwide average fee of 0.7 point while five-year ARMs carried an average fee of 0.5 point.

A year ago, 30-year mortgages averaged 5.77 percent, 15-year mortgages stood at 5.35 percent, one-year ARMs were at 4.56 percent and five-year ARMs averaged 5.30 percent.