Florida Mortgage Loans Tumble For Fourth Consecutive Week; Hit Lowest Since April

Rates on 30-year Florida mortgages fell for a fourth consecutive week as a slowing economy eases concerns about inflation.

In its survey of lenders, government-backed mortgage giant Freddie Mac said Thursday that 30-year, fixed-rate Florida home loans fell to 6.52 percent this week, a decline of 0.03 percent from last week’s 6.55 percent average.

This marks the lowest level for 30-year mortgages since they averaged 6.49 percent the week of April 13. Prior to the past month, Florida home loan borrowing costs had been rising since April, hitting a four-year high of 6.80 percent the week of July 20. Analysts attribute the rate decline to further evidence that the economy is slowing, which should ease inflation pressures.

“Long term rates continue to relax as economic reports support a picture of a weakening housing market and a slower growing economy,” said Freddie Mac chief economist Frank Nothaft.

This week’s news that new home construction fell by 2.5 percent in July adds to the belief that a slowing housing market will contribute to lower overall growth. That, in turn, will reduce inflation pressures and allow the Federal Reserve to call a halt to further rate hikes.

The U.S. central bank left rates unchanged last week, breaking a two-year, 17-meeting bonanza of rate increases. Ben Bernanke & Co. did leave the door open to further rate hikes, however, if inflation worries resurface.

Rates on 15-year, fixed-rate home loans, always a popular Florida mortgage refinance option, averaged 6.20 percent this week, unchanged from a week ago. For one-year adjustable-rate mortgages, rates dipped 0.04 percent to 5.65 percent from 5.69 a week prior.

Five-year adjustable-rate mortgage loans fell to 6.18 percent from 6.21 percent last week. The mortgage rates quoted in this article do not include add-on fees known as points. A point is 1 percent of the total loan amount, and can be bought up front to lower one’s rate.

The state’s 15- and 30-year mortgages both carried an average fee of 0.3 points, while one-year ARMs carried an average fee of 0.5 point, and five-year ARMs carried an average fee of 0.4 point.

While home loan rates have dropped a good amount in the last four weeks, they’re still up a bit from last year at this time. A year ago, 30-year Florida mortgage loans averaged 5.80 percent, 15-year mortgages stood at 5.40 percent, one-year ARMs were around 4.58 percent and five-year ARMs averaged just 5.34 percent.