Mortgage rates plunged after the Federal Reserve announced that it would buy up to $500 billion of securitized home loans. Rates on 30-year, fixed-rate, conforming mortgages fell well below 6 percent after the Fed announced Tuesday morning that it would buy up to a half-trillion dollars' worth of mortgage-backed securities over the next year to year-and-a-half. Bankers and brokers say rates fall as far as 5.25 percent, at least for a while. Last week, the 30-year fixed averaged 6.33 percent in Bankrate's weekly survey. The rate reduction is exactly what the Fed intended: "This action is being taken to reduce the cost and increase the availability of credit for the purchase of houses, which...
↧