text:  Mortgage rates are down. Another week, another drop in mortgage rates. Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac says the average rate on a 30-year mortgage fell this week to 6.86%. That's the fourth straight decline. The rate is now at the lowest level since early April. The average rate has been hovering around 7% this year. That combined with record high home prices has discouraged many home shoppers and kept the housing market in a slump.