Mortgage rates have remained below 3.3% for four straight weeks

Mortgage rates fell to near-record lows — and there’s reason to think they will drop even lower in the future.

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.24% for the week ending May 21, down four basis points from a week ago, Freddie Mac FMCC, +5.18% reported Thursday. That was just above the record low set earlier in May of 3.23%.

For the 15-year fixed-rate mortgage, the average rate dropped two basis points to 2.7%. Meanwhile, 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage averaged 3.17%, down one basis point from last week.

This week’s decline in rates was prompted by comments from the Federal Reserve. “Mortgage rates slid today after a sobering assessment from the Federal Reserve of the tough economic road ahead,” said George Ratiu, senior economist at Realtor.com. The central bank downgraded its economic forecast ahead of its meeting last month, according to notes released Wednesday.

The Federal Reserve indicated that they would keep interest rates low for an extended period of time to help the economy bounce back from the coronavirus pandemic. But Fed officials have warned that the central bank’s effectiveness in addressing the economic impact of the outbreak could be limited if the U.S. doesn’t resolve public health issues.