Average Interest Rates Lower

Freddie Mac, the mortgage company, reported Thursday that 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages averaged 5.94 percent this week, down from 6.10 percent last week. It marked the first decline since rates fell on Sept. 18 to 5.78 percent, a seven-month low.

Financial markets have been turbulent in recent weeks as investors have flocked to the safety of Treasury securities, sending those yields down sharply while rates on other types of corporate bonds have been pushed higher by growing concerns about whether the bonds will be repaid. Those crosscurrents have been reflected in mortgage rates, which also have been on a rollercoaster, hitting a high for the year of 6.63 percent in late July and then dropping below 6 percent in mid-September.

“Longer-term mortgage rates fell for the first time in three weeks, roughly following bond market yields,” said Frank Nothaft, chief economist for Freddie Mac.