Mortgage rates fell slightly for the second consecutive week, taking a path that many economists haven't expected.

"For the last 46 years, the 30-year mortgage rate has been almost perfectly correlated with the yield on the 10-year Treasury, but not this year," says Sean Becketti, Freddie Mac's chief economist. "From Dec. 29, 2016, through today, the 30-year mortgage rate fell 17 basis points to this week's reading of 4.15 percent. In contrast, the 10-year Treasury yield began and ended the same period at 2.49 percent. While we expect mortgage rates to fall into line with Treasury yields shortly, this just may be a year full of surprises."

Freddie Mac reported the following national averages with mortgage rates for the week ending Feb. 16:

• 30-year fixed-rate mortgages: averaged 4.15 percent, with an average 0.5 point, dropping from last week's 4.17 percent average. Last year at this time, 30-year rates averaged 3.65 percent.


• 15-year fixed-rate mortgages: averaged 3.35 percent, with an average 0.5 point, falling from last week's 3.39 percent average. A year ago, 15-year rates averaged 2.95 percent.


• 5-year hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages: averaged 3.18 percent, with an average 0.4 point, falling from last week's 3.21 percent average. A year ago, 5-year ARMs averaged 2.85 percent.

Source: Freddie Mac