FHLBB SAYS MORTGAGE RATES CONTINUE DECLINE

  The Federal Home Loan Bank Board said
  home mortgage rates fell from early February to early March to
  their lowest point in nine years, but the rate of decline was
  slower than it had been in recent months.
      The bank board said the average effective commitment rate
  for fixed-rate mortgages for single family homes and a 25 pct
  loan-to-price ratio with a maturity of at least 15 years was
  9.48 pct in early March.
      The rate was four basis points lower than a month ago, only
  one-eighth the size of decline in the previous month, the bank
  board said.
      Rates for adjustable-rate mortgages decline eight basis
  points from early February to 8.43 pct in early March, the bank
  board said. The drop was far less than the 15 basis point
  decline in the previous period, the agency said.
      The average effective interest rate on all loans closed by
  major mortgage lenders declined nine basis points from early
  February to early March, the agency said. The fall brought the
  rate to 9.14 pct was the lowest since December 1977, it said.
      The effective rate for ARMS was 8.39 pct, 15 basis points
  below a month earlier. For fixed-rate loans it was 9.36 pct, 14
  basis points below a month earlier, the agency said.
  

