Mortgage Rates are Dropping, Offering Some Good News

From The Associated Press:

“Rates on 30-year mortgages fell for the third straight week, dropping to the lowest level in five months.

Freddie Mac, the mortgage company, reported Thursday that 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages dipped to 6.24 percent this week, down from 6.26 percent last week.

It was the third straight weekly decline after rates hit 6.40 percent. Analysts attributed the decreases to mounting evidence that the economy is starting to slow.”

From MarketWatch:

“’With mortgage rates remaining low, approximately 38% of applications were for refinance transactions in the third quarter, down from 42% in the second quarter of this year. According to Freddie Mac's third quarter cash-out refinance report, approximately 87% of refinanced loans were for loan amounts that were 5% or more higher than the original balances,’ he said.”

From Reuters:

“Short-term mortgage rates experienced more pronounced declines following the U.S. Federal Reserve's cut of the benchmark federal funds rate by a quarter-percentage point to 4.5 percent last week.”