Average rates on 30-year fixed mortgages unchanged at 4.57 percent, lowest level in decades

Mortgage rates remain at lowest level in decades

WASHINGTON — Mortgage rates were unchanged this week at the lowest point in decades, but it hasn’t been enough to jump-start the housing market.

Government-sponsored mortgage buyer Freddie Mac says the average rate for 30-year fixed loans this week was 4.57 percent. That’s the same as a week earlier and the lowest since Freddie Mac began tracking rates in 1971.

Rates have fallen since the spring. Investors, concerned with the European debt crisis, have poured money into the safety of Treasury bonds. Treasury yields have fallen and so have mortgage rates, which tend to track yields on U.S. debt.

However, low rates have yet to fuel home sales and have sparked only a modest increase in refinancing activity.