Positive mortgage developments

More confirmation about a bright corner of the mortgage market: Freddie Mac, one of the largest purchasers of US mortgages, said that interest rates for 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages dropped to 6.31 percent today, down from 6.45 a week ago.

The rate hasn't been in that range since May.

And homeowners and buyers appear to be responding to the lower rates. Earlier this week, the Mortgage Bankers Association said that its index for applications for mortgages has increased by 5.5 percent since last week. (In its own survey released Wed., the MBA reported slightly lower mortgages rates than Freddie, with the overall trend very positive.)