Rates fall on 30-, 15-year mortgages

Rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 5.96% this week, down from 6.10% last week. That was the lowest level since the week of Sept. 29, 2005, when rates averaged 5.91%, mortgage company Freddie Mac said.

Rates on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, a popular choice for refinancing, slid to 5.65%, from 5.73% last week. For five-year adjustable-rate mortgages, rates fell to 5.75%, compared with 5.86% last week. Rates on one-year adjustable-rate mortgages edged up slightly to 5.46%, compared with 5.43% last week.

These rates do not include add-on fees known as points. Thirty-year mortgages carried an average fee of 0.4 of a point while 15-year and five-year mortgages both carried a 0.5 of a point fee. The one-year ARM carried an average fee of 0.6 of a point.