Mortgages
Rate: 5.48 percent (30-year fixed) Average points: 0.29Mortgage rates fell moderately this week.
The average 30-year fixed-rate fell 11 basis points, to 5.48 percent. A basis point is one-hundredth of a percentage point.
This week's average 15-year fixed -- a popular option for refinancing -- slid 10 basis points, to 5.1 percent.
The average jumbo 30-year fixed dropped 16 basis points, to 7.06 percent.
Adjustable-rate mortgages also declined this week. The one-year adjustable-rate mortgage ticked down 4 basis points, to 5.87 percent. The popular 5/1 ARM fell 17 basis points, to 5.41 percent.
Mortgage loan application activity plunged a seasonally adjusted 38.8 percent compared to the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.
For the week ending Jan. 23, refinance activity fell 48 percent while applications for new purchase slipped 2.9 percent. This week's numbers include an adjustment for the shortened week resulting from the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.
This week's decline comes on the heels of a 9.8 percent decrease in the mortgage reading for the week ending Jan. 16. Mortgage applications had skyrocketed as mortgage rates plunged to near historic lows earlier this winter, but that activity appears to be subsiding for now.
In a rare bit of good housing news, sales of existing homes for December rose by 6.5 percent, according to the National Association of Realtors. Sales clocked in at an annual rate of 4.7 million, besting the November reading of 4.45 million.
For all of 2008, existing home sales were 4.9 million, down 13 percent from 2007.
Meanwhile, home prices for November plummeted a record 18.2 percent, according to the closely watched Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller 20-city index.
To find and compare mortgage rates in your area, visit Bankrate's interactive search tool.
-- Chris Kissell