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Personal Finance > Your Home
Mortgages continue to fall
October 1, 1998: 2:52 p.m. ET

Thirty-year fixed rates once again hit their lowest point on record
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Mortgage interest rates, which have hit record lows for the past two weeks, continued their winning streak Thursday, falling even further.

For the week ending Oct. 2, the average rate on U.S. 30-year fixed mortgages dipped to 6.60 percent from last week's 6.64 percent. Fifteen-year loans also were down, averaging 6.27 percent from 6.32 percent the week before.

One-year adjustable rate mortgages followed the trend, sinking to an average 5.39 percent from last week's 5.42 percent.

In the 27-year history of the Primary Mortgage Market Survey, the 30-year rate has never been this low. And the 15-year mortgage rate has not been this low since 1991, when Freddie Mac began keeping tracking that type of loan.

On Tuesday, the Federal Reserve lowered the federal funds rate by a quarter of a point to 5.25 percent. Several of the nation's top banks cut their prime rate in response, which is expect to send mortgage rates even lower in weeks to come.

Chase Manhattan Bank [CMB], NationsBank Corp. [NB], BankAmerica Corp.[BAC], Banc One Corp. [ONE], Wells Fargo & Co. [WFC], U.S. Bancorp [USB] and First Chicago NDB Corp. [FCN] said they cut their prime rate to 8.25 percent from 8.50.

Last week, Southwest Bank of St. Louis, perhaps anticipating a larger cut by the Fed, cut its prime lending rate to 8 percent from 8.50.

Freddie Mac said lenders charged an average 1.0 in fees and points on 30-year mortgages, 0.9 on 15-year mortgages, and 1.0 on the one-year-adjustable rate. Back to top


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