Rates on long-term home mortgages are lower than short-term home loans, according to Freddie Mac's weekly survey.

"Interest rates for one-year ARMs exceeded those for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages over the last two weeks; this is the first time this has happened since Freddie Mac began collecting data for ARMs in January 1984," said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac chief economist.

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 4.80% for the week ended Thursday, down from 4.82% last week and 6.03% a year ago.

Fifteen-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 4.48%, unchanged from last week's low, and down from 5.62% a year ago.

Five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 4.85%, down from 4.88% last week and 5.68% a year ago. One-year Treasury-indexed ARMs averaged 4.82%, down from 4.91% last week and 5.29% a year ago.