Thirty-Year Fixed Rate Settles in at 4.00 Percent

Fixed mortgage rate averages remain near their all-time historic lows, fortifying high levels of homebuyer affordability throughout the country.

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""Freddie Mac"":http://www.freddiemac.com reported Thursday that the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage has averaged at or below 4.00 percent for five consecutive weeks now, while the 15-year fixed has hovered around 3.30 percent.

Adjustable-rate mortgages ticked down slightly this week, averaging new record lows for the second straight week.

Freddie Mac’s latest ""market rate survey"":http://www.freddiemac.com/pmms/ puts the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage at exactly 4.00 percent (0.7 point) for the week ending December 1.

That’s up slightly from 3.98 percent last week. As a point of reference, the 30-year rate was averaging 4.46 percent this time last year.

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The 15-year fixed rate came in at 3.30 percent (0.8 point) this week, unchanged from last week’s reading. A year ago at this time, the 15-year rate averaged 3.81 percent.

The 5-year ARM slipped to 2.90 percent (0.6 point), falling from last week’s record low of 2.91 percent. Rewind 12 months, and the 5-year ARM was averaging 3.49 percent.

The GSE’s study shows the 1-year ARM now averaging 2.78 percent (0.6 point). It also slipped one basis point from last week’s all-time low of 2.79 percent. At this time last year, the 1-year ARM was 3.25 percent.

Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac’s chief economist, described interest rates as “little changed” this week, adding that the “extraordinarily low mortgage rates” of the past month may provide a needed spur to housing activity.

Nothaft cited findings from the Federal Reserve’s ""latest Beige Book"":http://dsnews.comarticles/beige-book-illustrates-weakness-in-real-estate-pickup-mortgage-refinancing-2011-11-30, which concluded that the residential real estate market generally remained sluggish through the first half of the fourth quarter, but that the economy expanded at a moderate pace in 11 of the Fed’s 12 districts.

The GSE’s lead economist also sees positives in the Conference Board's consumer confidence index, which this month saw its largest jump since April 2003.

Nothaft says more optimistic consumers, lower house prices, and bargain mortgage rates likely contributed to the 10.4 percent ""jump in pending home sales"":http://dsnews.comarticles/pending-sales-increase-may-point-to-budding-market-recovery-2011-11-30 in October reported by the National Association of Realtors this week.

That’s the “strongest pace since November 2010 and may bode well for future home sales,"" according to Nothaft.