The government shutdown — which the CEO of the Mortgage Bankers Association said today is stoking “confusion and fear” among borrowers — helped drive down mortgage rates to their lowest level in more than three months, according to Freddie Mac’s latest Primary Mortgage Market Survey.

Rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 4.22 percent with an average point of 0.7 for the week ending Oct. 3, down from 4.32 percent last week but up from 3.36 percent a year ago, Freddie Mac reported.

“With the onset of the federal government shutdown and declining consumer confidence, fixed mortgage rates fell for the third consecutive week,” said Frank Nothaft, vice president and chief economist at Freddie Mac. “Consumer sentiment fell for the second month in a row in September to its lowest reading since April, according to the University of Michigan.”

Rates on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages and five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) loans also decreased, while rates on one-year Treasury-indexed ARMs stayed flat.

Source: Freddie Mac

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