Mortgage Rates Finish 2011 near Historic Lows...

RISMEDIA, Wednesday, January 04, 2012— Freddie Mac recently released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey®, showing average fixed mortgage rates finishing the year near their all-time historic lows helping to keep homebuyer affordability high. Averaging 3.95 percent, the 30-year fixed has been at or below 4.00 percent for the past nine consecutive weeks and only twice in 2011 did it average above 5.00 percent.

The survey results showed that the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 3.95 percent with an average 0.7 point for the week ending December 29, 2011, up from last week when it averaged 3.91 percent. Last year at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 4.86 percent.

15-year FRM this past week averaged 3.24 percent with an average 0.8 point, up from last week when it averaged 3.21 percent. A year ago at this time, the 15-year FRM averaged 4.20 percent.

5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) averaged 2.88 percent, with an average 0.6 point, up from the previous week when it averaged 2.85 percent. A year ago, the 5-year ARM averaged 3.77 percent.

1-year Treasury-indexed ARM averaged 2.78 percent this week with an average 0.6 point, up from last week when it averaged 2.77 percent. At this time last year, the 1-year ARM averaged 3.26 percent.

"Mortgage rates ended the year hovering near historic lows in an already affordable housing market,” says Frank Nothaft, vice president and chief economist, Freddie Mac. “For instance, the seasonally-adjusted S&P/Case-Shiller® 20-City Composite home price index in October was the lowest seen since March 2003. The largest hit areas were Las Vegas with the lowest reading since January 1997 and Atlanta which was since June 1998. It's not surprising then that over 5 percent of households in December plan to purchase a home over the next six months, the highest share since May, according to The Conference Board."

For more information, visit http://www.freddiemac.com.