Mortgage rates hold well below 5 percent

WASHINGTON, June 10 (UPI) -- Average interest rates for 15-year mortgages dropped to a record low for the fourth consecutive week, the U.S. Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. said Thursday.

Freddie Mac said interest rates fell to 4.17 percent with an average of 0.7 points, the lowest rate since the bank started keeping records in 1991.

The drop is a modest shift from a week ago, when interest rates on 15-year contracts averaged 4.2 percent.

Average interest rates for 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages dropped to 4.72 percent from last week's average of 4.79 percent. Points for 30-year mortgages averaged 0.7 during the week.

A year ago, interest rates on 30-year mortgages averaged 5.59 percent.