Mortgage rates at half-century low

The average for a 30-year fixed-rate home mortgage fell to 2.9 percent this week, according to Freddie Mac on Thursday. That’s the first time in 50 years the rate has dropped below 3 percent. Homeowners refinanced more than double the number of home loans—2 million—between January and April than they did during the same period last year, according to CoreLogic, a real estate data company.

How is the housing market doing? Although home construction rose 17.3 percent in June as some states reopened, the overall rate is 4 percent behind last year’s figures. Applications for building permits rose 2.1 percent, though an uptick in COVID-19 cases in the South could put a halt to some new projects.

Dig deeper: Listen to Nick Eicher and David Bahnsen discuss the job market on The World and Everything in It.