30-Year Mortgage Rates at 5-Year Low

The average interest rate on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages dropped to 6.82% this week--a five-year low--from 6.92% the week before, Freddie Mac said. The average has hovered below 7% for 12 consecutive weeks, a level that hasn’t been seen--except for a brief stretch in 1993--since the late 1960s. Its high point so far for this year, 7.22%, came more than four months ago. Fifteen-year mortgages, a popular option for refinancing, averaged 6.51%, a decrease from 6.61% the previous week. On one-year, adjustable-rate mortgages, lenders were asking an average initial rate of 5.51%, down from 5.58%. The rates do not include add-on fees known as points.