Mortgage rates fell the week that ended Thursday, with the average rate on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages retreating further below 5% to a five-week low, according to Freddie Mac's weekly survey.
Treasury yields, which hit multidecade lows earlier this year, have been bobbing up and down recently after they retraced from a big rebound in the summer. Mortgage rates tend to follow the yields.
The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 4.91% for the week that ended Thursday, down from the previous week's 4.98% average and 6.14% a year ago, Freddie said.
Rates on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages were 4.36%, down from 4.4% the previous week and 5.81% a year earlier.
Five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 4.29%, down from last week's 4.35% and 5.98% a year earlier. One-year Treasury-indexed ARMs were 4.46%, down from 4.47% last week and 5.33% a year earlier.
To obtain the rates, the 30-year mortgage required payment of an average 0.7 point, while the rest required an average 0.6 point. A point is 1% of the mortgage amount, charged as prepaid interest.
