Mortgage Rates Fall Again, Now VERY Low

Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey showed that the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 5.53% with an average 0.7 point for the week ending December 3, 2008, down from the prior week when it averaged 5.97%. Last year at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 5.96%. The 30-year FRM has not been lower since January 24, 2008, when it was 5.48%!

One-year Treasury-indexed ARMs averaged 5.02% last week with an average 0.5 point, down from the previous week when it averaged 5.18%. At this time last year, the 1-year ARM averaged 5.46%.

“After Federal Reserve actions to increase liquidity in the mortgage market, interest rates for fixed-rate mortgages (FRMs) took a dive,” said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist. “This week’s decline was the largest since the week of November 27th, 1981, and 30-year FRM rates are now almost a full percentage point lower since the last week.

At some point all of these rate changes are bound to affect the Nashville real estate market in a positive and substantial way. It just might take until next year to be able to accurately measure the results.

Meanwhile, the news for the commercial real estate market is much worse. It appears that may commercial loans are heading south and will inevitably take a huge bite out of commercial real estate values throughout 2009.

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