Mortgage rates fell again last week, hitting new lows in 2016 of 3.41 percent. This most recent drop brings the rates even closer to the record-low of 3.31 percent reached in November 2012.
It isn’t just the rates themselves that are approaching records, however. The length of time these rates have been low is another fast approaching record. For the entirety of 2016, rates have been below 4 percent, a length of 27 weeks and just two weeks shy of the 29-week stretch witnessed in 2014.
While 2014 (to this point) had a longer stretch of sub-4 percent rates, the rates over this most recent stretch have been lower, averaging 3.56 percent over the past 6 months compared to the 3.77 percent average in 2014.
Brexit, something that may keep rates low for a while and could push them down even further, spurred the most recent fall in mortgage rates. The new low rates probably won’t create a new urgency to buy, however, as other limiting factors such as price and inventory are still present.
