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Mortgage rates drop below 6%

WASHINGTON - Rates on 30-year mortgages fell below 6 percent this week, recording the first decline in three weeks.

Freddie Mac, the mortgage company, reported Thursday that 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages averaged 5.94 percent this week, down from 6.10 percent last week. It marked the first decline since rates fell on Sept. 18 to 5.78 percent, a seven-month low.

Financial markets have been turbulent in recent weeks as investors have flocked to the safety of Treasury securities, sending those yields down sharply while rates on other types of corporate bonds have been pushed higher by growing concerns about whether the bonds will be repaid.

Those crosscurrents have been reflected in mortgage rates, which also have been on a rollercoaster, hitting a high for the year of 6.63 percent in late July and then dropping below 6 percent in mid-September   Read Full Article...