Rates plunge to another new low

By Holden Lewis • Bankrate.com

Mortgage rates once again plunged to the lowest levels in decades but there was no surge in refinance applications.

The benchmark 30-year fixed-rate mortgage fell 9 basis points this week, to 4.57 percent, according to the Bankrate.com national survey of large lenders. A basis point is one-hundredth of 1 percentage point. The mortgages in this week's survey had an average total of 0.48 discount and origination points. One year ago, the mortgage index was 5.67 percent; four weeks ago, it was 4.77 percent.

Mortgage rates haven't been this low in about 55 years. Rates on FHA-insured mortgages averaged 4.56 percent in February 1955, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research. Conventional mortgage rates probably were similar.

The benchmark 15-year fixed-rate mortgage fell 5 basis points, to 4.06 percent. The benchmark 5/1 adjustable-rate mortgage fell 3 basis points, to 3.92 percent, and the benchmark 30-year fixed-rate jumbo fell 7 basis points, to 5.27 percent. All were records in the history of the Bankrate weekly survey.