Mortgage rates declined significantly this past week, probably the biggest decline over the past several weeks. Home mortgage rates have been coming back down from the highs set in June because it will probably take longer for the world economy to recover from the recession.

As a result of the week economic outlook, U.S. Treasury rates are headed back down and the Feds are not expected to raise interest rates anytime soon. Keeping the Fed Funds target rate in a range of zero percent to one quarter percent.  The U.S. economy will probably not recover as quickly or strongly as recently thought and the European Union economy will probably not recover until late in 2010.

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Current Mortgage Rates

Current 30-year fixed rate conforming mortgages that were nearing six percent last month are now almost back down to five percent. This week’s average rate on a 30-year mortgage is at 5.20 percent, down from last week’s average rate of 5.40 percent. Average mortgage refinance rates are also at 5.20 this week.

The average mortgage loan rate on a 15-year mortgage is at 4.72 percent this week, down from the prior week’s average rate of 4.87 percent. We probably will see 15-year conforming mortgage rates go back down to the 4.50 percent range. On June 15, 2009 15-year mortgage rates were over 5.00 percent at 5.20 percent.

Jumbo Mortgage Rates  

Jumbo mortgage rates have also declined this past week, narrowing the spread between conforming mortgage rates and jumbo rates. During the credit crises of last year if you were lucky enough to find a bank that would give you a jumbo mortgage you paid dearly for it, sometimes the jumbo rate was 2.5 percent higher than conforming mortgage rates. Thankfully the spread is returning to more historical norms, you can find jumbo rates less than one percent higher than conforming rates today.

30-year fixed jumbo mortgage rates are currently at 6.17 percent, down from the previous week’s average rate of 6.33 percent. In June, 30-year jumbo rates were over 6.50 percent at 6.64 percent. The average rate on a fixed 15-year jumbo mortgage is at 5.71 percent, down from last week’s average rate of 5.92 percent. The average jumbo 15-year rate last month was nearing 6.50 percent.

Adjustable Mortgage Rates

Adjustable mortgage rates declined as much as fixed rate mortgage this week. The average conforming one year adjustable mortgage rate is currently at 4.55 percent this week, down from the prior week’s average rate of 4.59 percent. Jumbo one year mortgage rates had a large decline in rates week or week. This week’s average rate is at 5.20 percent, down from 5.53 percent.

3/1 Adjustable Mortgage Rates

Average conforming mortgage rates on a 3/1 conforming loan is currently at 4.66, down from last week’s average rate of 4.86 percent. The high set last month was over 5.00 percent at 5.12 percent. Jumbo 3/1 home loans are at 5.30 percent, down from the prior week’s average rate of 5.56 percent. The June high was nearing 6.00 percent at 5.88 percent.

5/1 Adjustable Mortgage Rates

The average rate on a conforming 5/1 mortgage is at 4.57 percent this week, down from last week’s average rate of 4.78 percent. Jumbo 5/1 mortgage rates are at 5.34 percent, down from the previous week’s average rate of 5.54 percent. The range between conforming 5/1 loans and jumbo 5/1 loans is the narrowest we have seen in a while.

7/1 Adjustable Rate Mortgages

The average conforming 7.1 ARM is back under 5.00 percent, we haven’t seen rates under 5.00 percent since our May 25th mortgage report. The average rate this week is at 4.998 percent. The average jumbo 7.1 ARM came down to 5.90 percent, down from the prior week’s average rate of 6.22 percent.

10/1 Adjustable Rate Mortgages

Longer term adjustable rate mortgages are down this week. The average 10.1 conforming ARM is at 5.30 percent, down from last week’s average rate of 5.62 percent. The average 10.1 jumbo ARM is at 6.28 percent, down from the previous week’s average rate of 6.57 percent.

Interest Only Mortgage

Interest only mortgages have also seen significant declines recently. Most banks are not issuing interest only loans these days. Good luck finding a bank that will give you an IO.  

The average rate on conforming 3/1 interest-only mortgages are at 4.78 percent this week, down from 4.94 percent. Jumbo 3/1 interest only mortgages are running at 5.35 percent, down from 5.65 percent the prior week.

The average rate on a 5/1 conforming interest only mortgage is at 4.60 percent, down from last week’s average rate of 4.85 percent. Jumbo 5/1 mortgages are at 5.57 percent, down from 5.79 percent.

7/1 conforming interest only mortgage are at 5.15 percent this week, the prior week’s average rate was at 5.61 percent, almost a .50 percent decline. The average rate on a jumbo 7/1 IO mortgage is at 6.02 percent this week, down from the prior week’s average rate of 6.39 percent.

Home Equity Loans

Rates on home equity loans are still very high compared to all mortgage rates and home equity line of credit rates. The average rate on a 10-year home equity loan is at 7.616 percent this week, down very slightly from the prior week’s average rate of  7.621 percent. The average rate on a 15-year home equity loan is down to 7.742 percent this week from 7.748 percent the prior week.

Home Equity Line of Credit

Home equity line of credit rates are more resonable than home equity loan rates, this week’s average rate on a HELOC is unchanged at 4.80 percent. If you do decide to go with a HELOC over a home equity loan the one big difference is a HELCO rate is variable, meaning it will go up when interest rates go up, unlike a home equity loan which has a fixed rate.

Looking for the best mortgage rates in your area? You can find banks and lending institutions offering mortgages in your zip code buy using our mortgage rate serach engine. You can compare several banks at one in our comparison tables.

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