REAL ESTATE

Home Loan Rates Dip: Thirty-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 7.41% this week, down from 7.63% last week, according to a national survey by the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. It was the lowest rate since Feb. 24, 1994, when the average was 7.32%. The average hit a 25-year low of 6.74% in October, 1993. On one-year adjustable rate mortgages, lenders were asking an average initial rate of 5.80%, down from 5.86% last week. Fifteen-year mortgages, a popular option for those refinancing mortgages, averaged 6.89% this week, down from 7.11% a week earlier. The rates do not include add-on fees known as points.