- theMReport.com - https://themreport.com -

Thirty-Year Loan Slumps to Record-Breaking Low

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage slumped back to a new, record-breaking low, as manufacturing fell behind and more investors turned to the safe haven of Treasury debt.

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""Zillow"":http://www.zillow.com/ found that interest rates for the loan fell to 3.43 percent, beating a previous low of 3.48 percent for the real estate Web site and setting a new record since it started reporting interest rates in 2008.

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Interest rates for the 15-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 2.87 percent, while those for 5-year and 1-year adjustable-rate mortgages hovered at 2.43 percent.

Mortgage rates zigzagged lower for many states sampled by Zillow, with Illinois seeing the biggest decline by some 9 basis points.

""Rates reached another all-time low this week, hitting 3.43 for the first time in history,"" ""Erin Lantz"":http://www.zillow.com/profile/Erin-Lantz/, director of Zillow Mortgage Marketplace, said in a statement.

She cited ""the much weaker than expected manufacturing sector report"" released earlier this week and ""shrinking activity"" for the catalyst that drove more investors to Treasury debt.

Mortgage rates remain historically low as the global economy slows down. Debt-saddled Europe continues to fleece off investors, but analysts credit newly sluggish employment figures for lower interest rates, which lenders benchmark against Treasury yields.

Lantz added that ""we expect rates to remain fairly flat unless Friday's employment report significantly disappoints and further fuels U.S. economic concerns on the heels of the weak manufacturing report.""