WASHINGTON – Mortgage rates sank to the lowest level in more than five decades, but consumers aren't rushing to refinance their loans or buy homes.
The average for the benchmark 30-year, fixed-rate loan fell again from 4.69% last week to 4.58 this week, the lowest in as many as five decades, according to Freddie Mac. The average for the 15-year loan slipped too, from 4.13% to 4.04%.
ARM rates were mixed, with the average for the five-year ARM declining from 3.84% to 3.79%; and the average for the one-year ARM rising slightly from 3.77% to 3.80%.
Despite the record-low rates, applications for mortgages, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association, remain at only about half the level of early 2009 and a far cry from the refinancing boom of 2003 through 2005, when home prices were soaring and borrowers were able to pull equity out of their homes to pay for home renovations, boats and vacation homes.
