Mortgage Rates Continue Easing Pattern To New Lows

July 6, 2012 -- Given the increasingly bleak economic data, no one should be very surprised that mortgage and other interest rates are finding some additional space to fall, even if that fall is measured in only hundredths of a percentage point.

With each report, it becomes clearer that the US economy is close to stall speed, and that the slowdown in the economies of our trading partners is having a considerable effect. Several central banks took action this week to lower interest rates, which may ultimately help, but there is little immediate benefit to be seen.

HSH.com's broad-market mortgage tracker -- our weekly Fixed-Rate Mortgage Indicator (FRMI) -- found that the overall average rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages declined by two basis points (.02%), easing to a new record low of 3.96%. The FRMI's 15-year companion also managed a decline of two basis points, landing at 3.25%, just a lone basis point above a record low. Important to homebuyers and low-equity-stake refinancers, already-low FHA-backed 30-year mortgages shed eight basis points to slide to an incredible 3.58%, while the overall average rate for 5/1 Hybrid ARMs finished at 2.88%, a decline of a just 0.01% but enough to set a new low.