US Mortgage Rates Sink To A 16-Month Low

With Treasury yields currently very low, mortgage rates, which are often tied to those government bond rates, are at their lowest point in a year, according to Freddie Mac's weekly Primary Mortgage Market Survey.

The standard 30-year fixed rate mortgage fell to 3.92% for the week ending October 23, down 0.05% from the previous week. Also falling were 15-year fixed rate mortgages, from 3.18% last week to 3.08% this week, and 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable rate mortgages, down to 2.91% this week from 2.92% last week.

Meanwhile, 1-year Treasury-indexed adjustable rate mortgages ticked slightly up, from 2.38% last week to 2.41% this week.

Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist Frank Nothaft wrote "Fixed mortgage rates continued to fall this week after the yield on 10 year Treasuries dropped to their lowest point of the year. Existing home sales beat expectations in September clocking in at an annual rate of 5.17 million units, up 2.4% from August."

All of these rates are lower than they were at this time last year, and according to Freddie Mac, the 30-year rate is lower than it's been since the week of June 6, 2013. Here's how rates have evolved over the last year: