Mortgage Rates Fall on Concerns Over Labor Market

U.S. mortgage rates took a tumble this week following a weak September jobs report. According to Freddie Mac, the average rate for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage fell from 3.85% last week to 3.76% this week. 15-year mortgage rates fell from 3.07% to 2.99% during the same period.

Rates are now considerably lower than the same period a year ago, when the 30-year rate was 4.19%. 30-year mortgage rates rates have been below 4% for 11 straight weeks.

On Friday the Labor Department said that the U.S. economy only added 142,000 jobs in September, well below the pace set in previous months. The poor report could throw off plans for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates before the end of the year.