Mortgage rates are continuing to decline for the fifth straight week, with Freddie Mac reporting that lenders were offering 30-year fixed home loans to solid borrowers at a 4.23% average, down from 4.32% a week ago.The rate is the lowest for Freddie Mac's weekly survey since November, and down from 4.53% at the beginning of the year.The average for 15-year fixed mortgages also dropped, from 3.4% to 3.33%, Freddie Mac said Thursday. The start rates for variable home loans fell as well.An index of pending home sales decreased 8.7% in December to its lowest level since October 2011, Freddie Mac's chief economist, Frank Nothaft, said in announcing the survey results."Fixed residential investment negatively contributed to GDP in the fourth quarter for the first time since the third quarter of 2010," Nothaft said."Also, the Institute for Supply Management reported a significant slowing in growth in the manufacturing industry in December than the market consensus forecast."
