Mortgage rates sink to record low again

The 30-year fixed mortgage rate, the most popular loan product, sank to its lowest level on record this week, marking the 14th historic low it has hit this year.

According to the latest data released Thursday by Freddie Mac, the 30-year fixed-rate average fell to 2.71% with an average 0.7 point. (Points are fees paid to a lender equal to 1% of the loan amount and are in addition to the interest rate.) It was 2.72% a week ago and 3.68% a year ago.

The 30-year fixed rate has never been this low since Freddie Mac began tracking mortgage rates in 1971. It surpassed the previous low of 2.72%, set last month, and hasn't been above 3% since July.

Freddie Mac, the federally chartered mortgage investor, aggregates rates from around 80 lenders across the country to come up with weekly national average mortgage rates. It uses rates for high-quality borrowers who tend to have strong credit scores and large down payments. These rates are not available to every borrower.

The 15-year fixed-rate average dropped to 2.26% with an average 0.6 point. It was 2.28% a week ago and 3.14% a year ago. The five-year adjustable rate average went down to 2.86% with an average 0.3 point. It was 3.16% a week ago and 3.39% a year ago.

"Per usual, market activity in the days leading up to and immediately following the Thanksgiving holiday was fairly quiet, but recent days has seen the bond market quickly shift gears," said Matthew Speakman, a Zillow economist. "Treasury yields, which typically coincide with shifts in mortgage rates, rose to their highest level in three weeks on Tuesday following renewed discussions regarding more fiscal relief. But rather than rising with them, mortgage rates have instead held firm."

In the past, one of the more reliable indicators of where mortgage rates were headed was the movement of the 10-year Treasury. When...