KEY POINTS
  • The average rate on the popular 30-year fixed mortgage hit 2.97% Thursday, according to Mortgage News Daily, as the stock market sold off and investors rushed to the relative safety of the bond market.
  • The market sell-off is being fueled by new concerns that there may be a second wave of the coronavirus, which already decimated the economy in April and May.
Prospective home buyers arrive with a realtor to a house for sale in Dunlap, Illinois.

Barely a week ago it looked like mortgage rates were finally breaking higher, but in a sudden reversal, they just set a new record low.

The average rate on the popular 30-year fixed mortgage hit 2.97% Thursday, according to Mortgage News Daily, as the stock market sold off and investors rushed to the relative safety of the bond market. Mortgage rates loosely follow the yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury.