
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, July 2, 1993                   TAG: 9307020018
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

MORTGAGE RATES PLUNGE AGAIN, TO 21-YEAR LOW

Interest rates on 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages fell to 7.23 percent this week, a 21-year low, the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. said Thursday.

That was down from 7.34 percent a week earlier, and was the third consecutive decline and the steepest in 12 weeks. It was the lowest weekly average since the week ended March 3, 1972.

Rates had been falling for most of the year when they started edging up in mid-April, hitting 7.52 percent six weeks ago. But, in mid-June, with the release of two government reports showing that inflation had quieted in May, rates resumed their decline.

On one-year adjustable-rate mortgages, lenders were asking an average initial rate of 4.58 percent, down from 4.59 percent last week and the lowest since Freddie Mac began tracking ARM rates in 1984.

by CNB