Mortgage Interest Rates Inch Downward

The average interest rate on 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages was 6.78% this week, down from 6.83% last week, Freddie Mac said. The average, a four-week low, has remained below 7% for seven months. It reached a 31-year low of 6.49% in early October; its 1998 peak was 7.22% in late April. Fifteen-year mortgages, a popular option for refinancing, averaged 6.42% this week, down from 6.48%. On one-year, adjustable-rate mortgages, lenders were asking an average initial rate of 5.57%, down from 5.61%. The rates do not include add-on fees known as points, which averaged about 1% of the loan amount for all three types of mortgages.