Interest Rates Update

Interest rates on fixed-rate home mortgages dropped this past week, according to Freddie Mac's weekly survey of conforming mortgages, released on Thursday, February 12. The benchmark 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 5.16% for the week ending Feb. 12, down from 5.25% last week and 5.72% a year ago. The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage also fell, averaging 4.81%, down from 4.92% last week and 5.25% a year ago.
"Interest rates for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages are almost 1.5 percentage points below 2008's peak set on July 24, 2008, offering many homeowners an incentive to refinance (or purchase)," Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist, said in a statement. "This would translate into a monthly payment savings of around $188 on a $200,000 mortgage."
"If you have a down payment or home equity, a good credit score, full-doc underwriting and a conforming loan balance [meaning it is under the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac limit of $417,000 or $615,000 in high-cost areas] — if you meet those four criteria, then you have no problem getting mortgage credit," he said.