Financial crisis and mortgage rates

According to the FreddieMac.com weekly mortgage rates survey, interest rates fell this week due to inflation numbers, which had been a concern, being lower than expected.
Interest rates on a 30 year fixed rate mortgage averaged 5.38% down from 5.59% last week.
From the FreddieMac.com website:
“Reports of benign inflation figures reversed the upward trend of mortgage rates this week,” said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist.
He also said:
1) It’s too early to tell if the housing market has hit bottom.
2) The recent rise in interest rates has slowed homebuyer demand at least temporarily.
3) Mortgage applications have fallen for the first time in a month.
4) Home builder confidence has weakened for the remainder of the year.
Interest rates are predicated on so many economic factors that it’s virtually impossible to tell what they will do week to week. Even the most adroit economists can only guess as to what rates will do.
For now, let’s hope they ease a little more and give confidence back to the marketplace.
But data released Wednesday suggested that inflation remains largely in check, and the yield on the 10-year Treasury note has fallen back from an 8-month high of 4.01 percent reached last week.
Though there are signs that the troubled U.S. housing market is beginning to stabilize, higher rates could threaten or slow down any recovery, since borrowers would be able to borrow less money and might decide to hold off on their purchases.
The three-week run-up in rates, "is starting to slow homebuyer demand, at least temporarily," Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac's chief economist, said in a statement.
Home Equity mortgage rates