Mortgage Rates Hit New All Time Lows by dane

Mortgage Rates were already at all time lows last week. This week they fell further. The 30 year rate fell from 4.85 to 4.78. The 15 year rate fell as well going from 4.58 to 4.52. The difference between the 30 year fixed and the 15 year fixed is the smallest it has been in some time. Since the difference is not that great the 15 year mortgage is not seeing that much activity.

Both the 5 year arm and the 1 year arm fell as well. Since they are both above or close to the current rates for a 30 year mortgage they are pretty much pointless and seeing very little activity to no activity in the current market. Below are rates for the last 5 weeks.

Apr 02, 2009 30-yr 4.78 15-yr 4.52 5-yr ARM 4.92 1-yr ARM 4.75

Mar 26, 2009 30-yr 4.85 15-yr 4.58 5-yr ARM 4.96 1-yr ARM 4.85

Mar 19, 2009 30-yr 4.98 15-yr 4.61 5-yr ARM 4.98 1-yr ARM 4.91

Mar 12, 2009 30-yr 5.03 15-yr 4.64 5-yr ARM 4.99 1-yr ARM 4.80

Mar 05, 2009 30-yr 5.15 15-yr 4.72 5-yr ARM 5.08 1-yr ARM 4.86

Over the last month the 30 year rate has fallen from 5.15 to 4.78. In addition to rates we always like to look at mortgage payments. We determined the mortgage payment for a 200k loan for today's rates and the rates from March 26th and March 5th.

Apr 02 30-yr 1046.91 15-yr 1532.03 5-yr ARM 1063.88 1-yr ARM 1043.29

Mar 26 30-yr 1055.38 15-yr 1538.17 5-yr ARM 1068.75 1-yr ARM 1055.38

Mar 05 30-yr 1092.05 15-yr 1552.56 5-yr ARM 1083.44 1-yr ARM 1056.59

In the last month we can see that a mortgage payment for a 30 year has come down 4.3 percent. Which is pretty substantial considering that mortgage payments a month ago were already near 40 year lows.

While mortgage rates are pretty low banks are still pretty skittish. What does that mean? Banks are willing to offer very low rates to individuals that want to buy a house to live in and have a high credit score. Rates are higher for duplexes, people with low credit scores, and non owner occupy loans. Banks are pretty stringent on appraisals. Real estate deals are falling apart at the last moment over appraisal issues. Banks are also avoiding fixer upper properties. So we have some of the lowest interest rates and some of the strictest lending restrictions. In summary mortgage rates are at all time lows if you can get them.

About the Author

Ki writes regular articles about mortgage rates. His site has a search of Austin Texas real estate along with a tool that graphs historical mortgage interest rates.