The Bridgewaters, Massachusetts

Rates on 30-year mortgages set a record for a fifth straight week by dropping to below 5 percent, the lowest mark since Freddie Mac started tracking the data in 1971. The average rate for a 30-year fixed-rate currently stands at 4.96% with an average 0.7 point for the week ending January 15, 2009.

This is a decline from 5.01% the previous week, and is the first time the rate fell below 5.0%. It's the 11th straight weekly drop, and is well below the average rate of 5.69% at the same time last year.

Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey showed that the average interest rate for the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) broke another record in the 37-year history of the survey. Rates at are their lowest since the company started its survey in April 1971, Freddie Mac said. Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac's chief economist, said mortgage rates have fallen as the Treasury Department and the Fed added more than $100 billion in liquidity to the mortgage market since September.

Mortgage rates have been dropping since just before Thanksgiving in November 2008. That's when the Federal Reserve announced it was going to purchase up to $500 billion in mortgage-backed securities in an effort to get banks to lend more money and to aid the ailing U.S. housing market.

The average rate on a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage rose to slightly to 4.65%. That rate was 4.62% the previous week, the lowest point since June 2003, Freddie Mac said.

While rates are at historic lows, they're getting more expensive. The rates do not include add-on fees known as points. The nationwide fee for 30-year and 15-year mortgages averaged 0.7 point for this week. To learn more, read my post on FNMA's new loan-level price adjustments (LLPAs).