Rates on 30-Year Fixed Mortgages in U.S. Fall to 4.54%, Freddie Mac Says

Mortgage rates for U.S. loans set a record low for the sixth straight week as investors sought the relative safety of bonds backed by government-controlled home finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

The average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage fell to 4.54 percent in the week ended today from 4.56 percent last week, McLean, Virginia-based Freddie Mac said. The average 15-year rate was 4 percent, also a record in the data going back to 1971, the company said in a statement.

Falling rates have done little to boost demand that plunged after a federal homebuyer tax credit of as much as $8,000 expired April 30. The Mortgage Bankers Association’s index of home-loan applications fell 4.4 percent in the week ended July 23, approaching the 13-year low touched earlier this month, the Washington-based group said.

Homebuilder sentiment in July fell to its lowest level since April 2009, according to the National Association of Home Builders.

At the current 30-year rate, monthly payments for a $100,000 loan would be about $509, down $43 from a year ago.

-- Editor: Sharon L. Lynch, Kara Wetzel

To contact the reporter on this story: Ashley Lutz in New York at alutz8@bloomberg.net

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