Mortgage rates set new record lows in two weekly surveys.

The Freddie Mac survey put the average rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) at 4.54% with an average 0.7 origination point for the week ending July 29, down from last week's average of 4.56% and a year ago, when the average was 5.25%. It's a new record low for the survey, which began in 1971.

The Bankrate survey of large banks and thrifts put the average rate for a 30-year FRM at 4.71% with a 0.44, down from last week's average of 4.74% and a new record low for the nearly 25-year-old survey.

“For the sixth week in a row, interest rates on fixed-rate mortgages eased to all-time record lows during a week of mixed housing data reports," said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist.

A new addition to the Bankrate survey was a benchmark rate for 30-year jumbo FRMs, which averaged 5.43%, a record low reached last week, and unchanged this week.

"The number of local markets experiencing annual increases in home prices appears to be growing," Nothaft said. "For instance, 13 metropolitan areas in the S&P/Case-Shiller 20-city index experienced price appreciation over the 12-months ending in May, compared to 11 in April and 10 in March."

“However, existing home sales in June slowed to an annualized pace of 4.37m units, the fewest since March," he added. "Moreover, although new home sales jumped by almost 24% to 330,000 dwellings, it represented the second slowest rate since 1963.”

Freddie said the average rate for a 15-year FRM averaged 4% with an average 0.7 point, down from last week's average of 4.03% and a year ago, when the average was 4.69%. The average is a new low for the survey, which began in 1991.

Bankrate put the average rate for a 15-year FRM at 4.17% with a 0.44 origination point, down from last week's average of 4.18%, also a nearly 25-year record for the survey.

Freddie said the five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) averaged 3.76% with an average 0.7 point this week, down from last week when it averaged 3.79%. A year ago, the 5-year ARM averaged 4.75%. Bankrate said the five-year ARM averaged 4.07% with a 0.44 origination point, up from last week's average of 4.06%. The one-year Treasury-indexed ARM averaged 3.64% with an average 0.7 point this week, down from last week when it averaged 3.7%. At this time last year, the 1-year ARM averaged 4.8%.

Write to Austin Kilgore.

Home sales in the Phoenix Metro Statistical Area (MSA) rose 11% from May, but fell short of a year ago for the second consecutive month. A total of 10,430 new and resale houses and condos closed escrow last month in the Maricopa-Pinal counties metropolitan area, up 11.2% from May, but down 2.8% from a year ago, according to MDA DataQuick.

The number of newly built homes sold in June rose 35.1 percent compared with May and rose 26.9 percent from a year ago. Still, last month’s new-home sales were the second-lowest for a June in more than a decade as builders continued to struggle to compete with low-cost distressed sales.

The median sale price stayed about the same at $139,500 for all new and resale houses and condos that closed escrow, up 0.4% from May and up 7.3% from a year ago. Even though the median price fell short of it's peak by 47.2%, set in June 2006, it did achieve the highest median for any month this year. The median price climbed for the past four consecutive months after a 36-month digression.

The median paid last month for resale single-family detached houses was $135,875, down 1.5 percent from May but up 8.7 percent from a year earlier while the median paid for resale condos in June was $89,900, down 8.3 percent from May and down 13.6 percent from a year earlier.

One of the biggest changes in the mix of sales this year versus last year is the decline in foreclosure resales. In June 2010, foreclosure resales represented 47.4 percent of the resale market, compared with 60.8 percent a year earlier. The peak for foreclosure resales was 66.2 percent in March 2009.

This year a smaller percentage of sales occurred below $100,000, 29.2% last month as compared to 35.6% the same time last year. Sales for $200,000 or more were 29.2 percent of all sales last month, up from 28.0 percent in May and up from 26.7 percent a year ago.

Write to Christine Ricciardi.

Six financial regulators today issued final rules requiring mortgage loan originators employed by agency-regulated institutions to register under compliance with the Secure and Fair Enforcement for Mortgage Licensing (SAFE) Act of 2008.

The SAFE Act requires originators to register with the National Mortgage Licensing System and Registry. Originators include a variety of information, including fingerprints for background checks.

The Federal Reserve, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC), Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) were among the six agencies to issue final rules today to apply SAFE Act requirements to employees of agency-regulated institutions.

The final rules establish the registration requirements for residential mortgage loan originators employed by agency-regulated institutions. They also establish the requirements for the institutions to adopt policies and procedures to ensure SAFE Act compliance. Mortgage originators will also be required to obtain a unique identifier through the registry.

The final rules take effect Oct. 1, 2010. The agencies said in a joint statement that the registry could begin accepting federal registrations as early as Jan. 28, 2011, but warned that affected originators must wait for agency instruction to register.

According to a note emailed by lawfirm K&L Gates, the final rule does not deviate from the definition of "loan originator" in the SAFE Act.

"Further, the federal banking agencies exclude individuals engaged in modifications and assumptions from the registration requirement, determining that since those transactions do not result in the extinguishment of an existing loan and the replacement with a new loan," the note clarifies, "the individuals engaging in that activity would not be taking a residential mortgage loan application, and thus are not mortgage loan originators."

Write to Diana Golobay.