Mortgage rates drop to the 5% range for the first time since September

The average rate on the 30-year fixed rate mortgage has fallen to 5.99%, according to Mortgage News Daily.
The housing market hasn’t seen the rate with a five handle since a brief blip in early September. Before that, it was in early August.
The rate started this week at 6.21% and fell sharply Wednesday after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said inflation “has eased somewhat but remains elevated,” which was a shift from previous language.
That sent bond yields lower, and mortgage rates loosely follow the yield on the 10-year Treasury.