15-year mortgage hits record low at 2.35%

The average rate on the 15-year fixed-rate mortgage slipped to a new record-low of 2.35% last week.

Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac reported Thursday that weekly drop in 15-year average rates from 2.37% on Sept. 10 and 3.21% a year ago. The average rate on the 30-year home loan edged up to 2.87% from a record low 2.86% the previous week. By contrast, the 30-year rate averaged 3.73% a year ago.

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Housing demand continues as one of few bright spots in the pandemic-hobbled economy. Spurred by the low loan rates, first-time home purchases jumped 19% in August from July, to the highest monthly level ever tracked, according to Freddie Mac. Still, the lack of available homes for sale is a constraint.

In the wider economy, the government reported Thursday that the number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell last week to 860,000, a historically high number of people that points up the broad economic damage still occurring nine months after the first case of COVID-19 was detected in the US.

 

 

 

 

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