Mortgage Rates Drop for a Second Week

The average interest rate on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages edged down to 7.58% this week from 7.64% the week before, mortgage company Freddie Mac reported, marking the second straight weekly decline. Mortgage rates had been creeping up for the last two months and have fluctuated from their low for this year of 6.74%, set at the end of January, to a high of 7.71% at the beginning of this month. “With concern about inflation easing, [Treasury security rates] dropped this week, and mortgage rates followed them downward,” said Robert Van Order, chief economist for Freddie Mac. Fifteen-year mortgages, a popular option for refinancing, declined sharply--averaging 7.19% this week, down from 7.30% the week before. On one-year adjustable-rate mortgages, lenders were asking an average initial rate of 5.97% this week, up slightly from 5.96% the previous week. The rates do not include the add-on fees known as points.