QUINCY, ILL. (AP) -- Rates on the 30-year mortgages have dropped to the lowest level in decades for the ninth time in 12 weeks. Rates are being pushed down by traders expecting the federal reserve to pump more money into the economy.

Freddie Mac says the average rate for a 30 year fixed loan is down to 4.27 percent. It is the lowest on records dating back to 1971 and down from 4.32 the previous week.

The past ten years, interest rates were at six percent at their lowest.  Now rates are just above four percent.

It's a busy time for Jill Deege, a loan representative with Mercantile Bank in Quincy. She says folks are calling non-stop looking to refinance their mortgages with low-interest rates.

Jill Deege said, "Most people who are refinancing are amazed at how low the payments can go or the amount of term they can drop off, which is a huge savings over the life of a loan."

But even with interest rates at record lows, fewer people are sold on buying a new home. In fact home sales are lower now than in the past year.   That has realtors like Gary Broughton with Century 21 Broughton team scratching their heads.

"Does this surprise you that more people aren't interested in buying new homes now?

Broughton said, "It does surprise me with the opportunities that are there for low interest rates and low down payments and low monthly payments."

In fact, Broughton says with these interest rates, buyers *could* save more money than during the Homebuyers tax credits offered last year and this past spring.

When you do the math, folks buying a 100 thousand dollar home could save nearly seven thousand dollars over ten years.

Even with the potential savings, there seems to be fewer in the market to buy. Broughton says that could be due to the uncertain economy or folks pushing ahead with plans to buy early because of the tax credits offered earlier this year. But either way, he says Broughton says the urgency seen when tax credits were offered is now gone..

But the good news, web traffic to realtor websites is high, so people are still *thinking* about purchasing new homes.

Back at the bank, Deege says those folks will get more house for the money..if they get in to talk to their local loan officer.

Deege said, "I think people would be very surprised at how much home they can buy for the dollar because of the low interest rates."

Rates have mostly fallen since spring as investors shifted money into the safety of treasury bonds, lowering their yield. Mortgage rates tend to track those yields.

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