Average interest rates on 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages fell this week to the lowest level nationally in four months.
The average decreased to 7.58 percent from 7.61 percent last week, the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. said Thursday.
It was the lowest rate since the week ended Feb. 20, five weeks before the Federal Reserve raised interest rates. After the monetary tightening, the rate rose to a seven-month high of 8.18 percent for the week ended April 3 and has declined in nine of the 12 weeks since.
Fifteen-year mortgages, a popular option for those refinancing mortgages, averaged 7.13 percent this week, also the lowest since the week ended Feb. 20. The rate was down from 7.14 percent last week.
On one-year adjustable-rate mortgages, lenders were asking an average initial rate of 5.66 percent this week, the same as last week.
The rates were based on fees known as points averaging 1.7 percent for the 30- and 15-year mortgages and 1.5 percent for the adjustable-rate mortgages.
