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Digital News Report – Mortgage rates were slightly lower today compared to yesterday. The 30-year fixed rate mortgages are averaging 5.18 percent, according to our Digital News Report survey. We found the 15-year fixed rate mortgages averaging 4.49 percent and the 5/1 ARM average to be 3.69 percent.
All of the averages were lower today compared to yesterday, ending an upward trend.
On the week they are still at an 8-month high, according to another report. Today Freddie Mac’s weekly survey pegged the 30-year rate at 5.21 percent. Last week the average (according to Freddie Mac) was 5.08 percent and on year ago it was 4.87 percent.
Yesterday the former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan answered questions on Capital Hill concerning his role in the financial meltdown. The 84-year old “Maestro” had a long tenure as Fed Chair running the central bank from 1987 and 2006.
The economy boomed under Greenspan, but maybe it may have expanded too quickly.
After being grilled by the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission set up by Congress to investigate the economic collapse, Greenspan said he couldn’t do much because of Congress. “If the Fed as a regulator had tried to thwart what everyone perceived as… an unmitigated good, then Congress would have clamped down on us,” Mr Greenspan “[If] we had said we’re running into a bubble and we need to retrench, the Congress would say: ‘We haven’t a clue what you’re talking about’.”
By: Tina Brown