Mortgage Rate Trends for the week 11/27/2006

Thanksgiving is over, but American homeowners once again have a lot to be thankful for as Atlanta mortgage rates saw yet another week of relatively large cross-the-board falls in interest rates.

According to Bankrate.com’s national survey of large lenders, Atlanta mortgage rates fell to all time 10-month lows this week.  Unlike weeks of past, however, the fall in home mortgage interest rates were the same cross-the-board.  30-year fixed rate mortgage rates continued their good recent performance with rates falling for the fifth week in a row from last week’s 5.71% to this week’s 5.66%.  15-year fixed rate mortgage rates also continued their recent downward spiral from last week’s rate of 5.48% to this week’s 5.43%.  Keeping up with the falls in fixed rate mortgage rates, the 5-year adjustable rate mortgage rate also fell from last week’s 5.53% to this week’s 5.48%.  This represents collective cross-the-board falls in Atlanta mortgage rates of five basis points each, where one basis point equals one percentage point of one percent. 

For those with 5-year adjustable rate mortgage rates, the fall in advertised 5-year ARMs must have been especially pleasing given the number of American homeowners who have recently been electing to refinance out of adjustable rate mortgages and jump ship to a fixed rate mortgage rate while fixed rate mortgage rates are at near year lows.  Those homeowners with adjustable rate mortgages must be delighted they decided to hold fire, but may also be wondering whether or now is the time to jump ship and refinance into a fixed rate mortgage.