Mortgage rates decline, lowest in 50 years!

Mortgage rates have sunk to the lowest level in more than five decades, but consumers aren't rushing to refinance their loans or buy homes.

Mortgage company Freddie Mac said Thursday the average rate for 30-year fixed loans sank to 4.58 percent this week.

That's down from the previous record of 4.69 percent set last week and the lowest since the mortgage company began keeping records in 1971. The last time they were cheaper was the 1950s, when most long-term home loans lasted just 20 or 25 years.

Rates have fallen over the past two months. Investors wary of the European debt crisis and the stock market have shifted money into the safety of Treasury bonds, driving down yields. Mortgage rates tend to track the yields on long-term Treasurys.

On Wednesday, the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note dropped to 2.95 percent. That was the first time it has fallen below 3 percent since April 2009, when the markets were beginning to recover from the financial crisis.

But tighter lending standards and declining home equity have made it difficult for many borrowers to refinance. Many who do qualify have already done so over the past 18 months.

Applications for mortgages rose nearly 9 percent last week from a week earlier, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Wednesday. But they remain at only about half the level of early 2009 and a far cry from the refinancing boom of 2003 through 2005, when home prices were soaring and borrowers were able to pull equity out of their homes to pay for home renovations, boats and vacation homes.