30-year mortgage rates fall below 3% for first time in a half century

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 2.98% over the past week, falling below 3% for the first time since the mortgage giant began tracking the popular home-loan instrument in April 1971.
The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage fell to a record low of 2.48%.
Rates have dropped almost 2 percentage points over the past 1 1/2 years, helping to drive up homebuying demand and keeping home prices from dropping during the coronavirus-inspired recession. That decrease amounts to a savings of $563 a month in