U.S. mortgage rates fall to record low: Freddie Mac

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. mortgage rates dropped to a record low in the latest week, as rates fell for a fifth straight week, a closely watched mortgage survey showed Thursday.

The lowest mortgage rates in decades and high affordability have helped the hard-hit housing market find some footing this year after a three-year slump.

Interest rates on U.S. 30-year fixed-rate mortgages, the most widely used loan, averaged 4.71 percent for the week ending December 3, down from the previous week's 4.78 percent, according to a survey by Freddie Mac, is a mortgage finance company chartered by Congress that buys mortgages from lenders and packages them into securities to sell to investors or to hold in its own portfolio. Both companies were put into government conservatorship in September 2008.

(Editing by Leslie Adler)