30-Year Mortgage Rate Slips to 6-Week Low

The average rate on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages fell to 7.10% this week, a six-week low, according to Freddie Mac. The decrease was from 7.19% last week. The average this year has ranged from a 5 1/2-month high of 7.22% at the end of April to 6.89%, a four-year low reached in mid-January as nervous investors transferred money from Asia to the United States. Fifteen-year mortgages, a popular option for refinancing, fell from 6.82% to 6.75%, also a six-week low. On one-year adjustable-rate mortgages, lenders were asking an average initial rate of 5.70%, down from an 11-month high of 5.71% the previous week. The rates do not include add-on fees known as points.