Rates Continue Slow Decline, with 30-Year Fixed at 3.90 Percent

Fixed mortgage rates moved slightly lower for the week and are still staying near 60-year lows, according to the Primary Mortgage Market Survey released by ""Freddie Mac"":http://www.freddiemac.com/.

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This week, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.90 percent (0.8 point), down from last week when it was 3.95 percent. Last year at this time, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 4.87 percent.

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The 15-year fixed-rate ended at 3.17 percent (0.8 point), another slight decrease compared to last week's average of 3.19 percent, but well below last year's average at 4.15 percent.

The 5-year ARM increased just a smidge at 2.83 percent (0.7 point), compared to 2.80 last week. The 5-year ARM averaged 3.72 percent last year.

The 1-year ARM also fell into the downward trend and averaged 2.72 percent (0.6 point), compared to the 2.73 percent seen last week. The 1-year ARM averaged 3.23 percent at this time last year.

""Fixed mortgage rates bottomed out in January and February of this year which is helping spur the housing market,"" said Frank Nothaft, VP and chief economist of Freddie Mac. ""For instance, ""pending existing home sales"":http://www.realtor.org/research/research/phsdata rose in January to its strongest pace since April 2010 and sales figures for December saw upward revisions.

Nothaft also noted the most recent ""Beige Book"":http://www.federalreserve.gov/FOMC/BeigeBook/2012/ reports showing modest increases in residential real estate activity in districts throughout January and February, with several reports of increase home sales.