Mortgage Rates at Record Low

One bit of positive fallout from the debt-ceiling deal reached earlier this week: Mortgage rates have fallen to levels that are at or near record lows.

That's a boost for the US housing market, which is still struggling to recover from the after-effects of an epic boom and bust.

Interest costs on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged just 4.39 percent this week, according to housing-finance giant Freddie Mac. That's the lowest level this year, and down from 4.55 percent a week earlier. (Those interest rates are for loans in which the borrower also pays a "points" fee of about 0.8 percent of the amount to be borrowed.)