Rates on 30-year new purchase mortgages dropped for a fifth day Thursday, slipping another 3 basis points to create a week-long decline of 23 points. The current average of 6.60% establishes a new low point for this year, with the last time rates were cheaper being two weeks before Christmas.

Trump could order the Treasury Department to start buying mortgage-backed securities, like when the Federal Reserve bought roughly $1.45 trillion of MBSs during the Great Recession. That was popularly known as quantitative easing. Buying MBS can reduce mortgage rates by increasing competition and increasing mortgage market liquidity.

Inflation is hovering higher than hoped, and the Federal Reserve looks less likely to lower its benchmark rate, factors that mean mortgage rates aren’t likely to move much this month. However, a slowing economy and new post-election uncertainty could push mortgage rates down a bit in March,

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, two pillars of the U.S. mortgage ... were lost to foreclosure according to an estimate from the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. Get top local stories in Southern ...

The average rate on a 30-year mortgage in the U.S. eased for the fifth week in a row to its lowest level since late December, a welcome boost for prospective homebuyers in what’s traditionally the bus