US mortgage rates fell in latest week -Freddie Mac

NEW YORK, July 2 (Reuters) - Interest rates on U.S. 30-year fixed-rate mortgages dropped 0.10 percentage point in the latest week, a move that bodes well for the hard-hit U.S. housing market, according to a survey released on Thursday by home funding company Freddie Mac.

Interest rates on the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 5.32 percent, with an average 0.7 point, for the week ending July 2. That was down from the previous week's 5.42 percent, but significantly higher than the record low of 4.78 percent set the week ending April 2. Freddie Mac started the Primary Mortgage Market Survey in 1971.

"Lower mortgage rates are helping to support the housing market," Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist, said in a statement. (Editing by James Dalgleish)