| For on the second time in history the average rate on 30 year fixed mortgages has fallen below four percent, reaching a record low of 3.94% between October and November of 2011 according to the National Bureau of Economic Research.
15 year mortgages are even lower, reaching a record low of 3.26% around the same period.
Unfortunately these low rates are doing little to increase the number of home sales in a market of declining property values, leaving home sales for 2011 on track to be the lowest in the past fourteen years.
There are some winners, however. Many farm operators have been able to take advantage and receive a private commercial farm loans or even a federal loan with interest well below both the emergency farm loan rate and other rates of the recent decades.
Refinancing is also showing spikes as in the second week of November it jumped more than 12% as home and business owners scrambled to take advantage of the low rates. However, compared to last year refinancing is down significantly. The fact is that most Americans who can afford and are interested in refinancing to take advantage of these new low interest rates have done so already. Also take into account high unemployment and falling wages making many either ineligible or short of funds to refinance—while many simply don’t want to invest any further in property that is not holding its value.
However, if you are a homeowner or are considering getting a loan for a home or farm, this may be the best time to do it. Rates don’t have much further down to go, after all—provided that you can sustain your repayment.
