 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. Economists project the average rate will ease to the mid to low 6% range by the end of the year.