The Wall Street Journal reported recently that rates on 30-year fixed mortgages have once again hit a new low. According to their article, the new rate for this mortgages is 4.32% this week – down from 4.36 percent last week and 5.08 percent a year ago. Of course, this drop isn’t significant; rates have been hovering around this area for 11 weeks, and this week was just another smaller drop.

Other mortgage rates are in the same state. According to the figures in the WSJ article, a 15-year fixed mortgage now has a rate of 3.83 percent. ARMs, or adjustable rate mortgages, also seem to stay in the same area. A standard ARM is 3.5 percent, while a hybrid ARM is 3.54 percent. All rates mentioned in the WSJ article are from Freddie Mac.

These figures, however, don’t represent the entire state of the market. From the perspective of the realtor, the market needs some serious assistance: prices are down 30 percent from the middle of the decade, while few new properties are actually being sold. Pending home sales, additionally, are also in a state of flux. According to this article from Business Insider, 90 percent of properties being sold are existing – few newer ones are being sold – but the market seems to be steadying.

The fact is, the real estate market will never recoup the 2004 to 2006 levels in such a short period of time. While prices on homes significantly increased during the first half of this decade, many purchasing such homes were also given ARMs and were unaware of the rate increases over time. Such a swift increase can only result in significant ramifications; in this case, the less-than-decent practices from agents and homeowners unable to pay quickly-rising ARMs both surfaced by 2007.

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