I have been describing mortgage rates as "historically low" but now we all can officially call them "the lowest ever." Or at least since mortgage giant Freddie Mac has been keeping records in 1971.
The company says that the average rate for a 30-year mortgage nationally was 4.85 percent this week, down from 4.98 last week. One year ago, rates averaged 5.85 percent.
According to the company, 15-year loans averaged averaged 4.58 percent this week, down from 4.61 percent last week. Last year, 15-year mortgages averaged 5.34 percent.
Pretty much every economist on Earth is saying that this is just about the lowest mortgage rates are going to go, unless the federal government takes even more extraordinary action that could push them even lower.
Sitting on the fence waiting for home prices to finish falling before you buy? You may not get any better of a deal by waiting if you end up paying a higher mortgage rate. That's because even a 10 percent to 20 percent drop in selling prices may not give you a lower monthly mortgage payment if interest rates go up by any significant amount.
Use this calculator from Bankrate.com to help you with the buy now vs. buy later decision. You can enter different interest rates and loan amounts and see what your mortgage payment would be.
Don't forget to factor in any homebuying incentives you may qualify for into the decision-making process. There is the $8,000 federal tax credit for first-time home buyers or those who haven't owned a home in the last three years. A state incentive of $6,000 is for Utahns who buy a newly constructed home. (A number of state are offering their own incentives now.) The federal income tax credit is good only for those who buy before Dec. 1 and Utah's incentive runs out after about 1,600 people taken it.