Mortgage rates continued to follow a downward trend hitting new record lows, according to Freddie Mac.
The government-sponsored enterprise's Primary Mortgage Market Survey showed 30-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 3.31 percent in the week ending November 21. This was down from 3.34 percent in the previous week and 3.98 percent a year ago.
Additionally, 15-year FRMs dropped from 2.65 to 2.63 percent. Last year at this time, they averaged 3.3 percent.
"Fixed mortgage rates continued to ease somewhat this week to record lows and should help the ongoing housing recovery," said Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist Frank Nothaft. "Already, new construction on homes was up 3.6 percent in October to the strongest pace since July 2008."
Patrick Newport, economist at IHS Global Insight, told Bloomberg that record low rates helped push home sales in October. He said the firm expects the housing market to continue its improvement and "outperform the rest of the economy over the next few quarters."
Rates hitting all-time lows make it more affordable than ever to buy a home or refinance a mortgage.
