US Mortgage Rates Fell For the 10th Time in 11 Weeks

Mortgage rates fell for the 10th time in 11 weeks, though the drop was slight this week.

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 6.30 % for the week ending Oct. 5, down from 6.31 %. A year ago, the 30-year FRM averaged 5.98 %.

Mortgage rates fell to a six-month low this past week, and, not surprisingly, home refinancing rose 18 % last week, accounting for almost half of all mortgage applications.

This is due both to the recent decline in mortgage rates and to homeowners who are refinancing ARMs rather than waiting for them to reset in the future when rates may be higher.

Even though rates have fallen recently, housing activity continues to slow while new construction wanes, leading Fed Chairman Bernanke to expect that the national economic rate of growth will lose up to one full percentage point in the last half of this year.