BANKING

Mortgage Rates Drop: Thirty-year, fixed-rate mortgages averaged 8.80% this week, down from 8.94% last week, according to a national survey released by the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. It was the lowest since Sept. 22, when the average was 8.73%. The average hit a 25-year low of 6.74% in October, 1993. On one-year adjustable rate mortgages, lenders were asking an average initial rate of 6.69%, down from 6.75% last week. Fifteen-year mortgages, a popular option for those refinancing mortgages, averaged 8.45% this week, down from 8.59% a week earlier. The rates do not include add-on fees known as points.