Rates have stayed strong use the long run to reduce your mortgage costs

By Amy Hoak, MarketWatch

CHICAGO (MarketWatch) — Rates on fixed-rate mortgages fell this week, with the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaging 3.9%, according to Freddie Mac’s weekly survey of conforming mortgage rates, released on Thursday.

The mortgage averaged 3.95% last week and 4.87% a year ago.
Fifteen-year fixed-rate mortgages also fell slightly, averaging 3.17% for the week ending March 1, down from 3.19% last week and 4.15% a year ago.

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But rates on 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages headed the other direction, averaging 2.83% this week, up from 2.8% last week. The ARM averaged 3.72% a year ago.
One-year Treasury-indexed ARMs averaged 2.72%, down from 2.73% last week and 3.23% a year ago.
To obtain the rates, the fixed-rate mortgages required payment of an average 0.8 point, the 5-year ARM required an average 0.7 point and the 1-year ARM required an average 0.6 point. A point is 1% of the mortgage amount, charged as prepaid interest.
The low rates have only helped the housing market, said Frank Nothaft, vice president and chief economist, Freddie Mac, in a news release.
“Fixed mortgage rates bottomed out in January and February of this year which is helping spur the housing market. For instance, pending existing home sales rose in January to its strongest pace since April 2010 and sales figures for December saw upward revisions,” Nothaft said. Read more: January pending home sales hit nearly two-year high.
The Federal Reserve also reported in its recent regional economic review that residential real-estate activity increased in most of the Districts over the last two months, he added. Read more: Fed finds better real estate, banking conditions.