Interest rates remain near record lows.

Interest rates stayed about the same this week near record lows .The following are excerpts from the newsletter on interest rates published by HSH Associates :

“In the end, after much distraction and hundreds of millions of dollars spent, it is four more years for the existing Obama administration. With the distraction of the election finally over, perhaps some attention can be turned toward the impending fiscal cliff, changes to health care and taxes, implementation of rules governing (and perhaps even reform of) the mortgage market and more.

Change at the top or not, several things are firmly in place and going nowhere fast, and all have an influence on mortgage rates. Most importantly, the economy remains in a low-growth funk, the Federal Reserve is continuing to buy up mortgage-backed securities and inflation remains at temperate levels. At the moment, there are few indications that these items will change anytime soon, but there may be risks on the horizon,

The excitement, noise and distraction of election season behind us, we’re left with the still-stark reality of the economy to face. While no doubt in a better place than during the middle of the year, and possibly on an improving bent, there isn’t all that much to produce any kind of rampant enthusiasm at the moment. We still have a long climb to get back to a place even close to normal in terms of jobs, home sales, incomes, and the economy in general. History says that we’ll eventually get there again, but that doesn’t make the climb any shorter or less difficult.

While mortgage rates will continue to remain steady in the next week, we might see a little decline. The stock market selloff of the past couple of days has pushed some money back into bonds, driving yields down, and there may also be a little downward pull from a lack of demand for mortgage credit, too. The continued fall in loan apps might just serve to make some lenders price a little more aggressively to get more folks in the door.”

The following are interest rate quotes from Al Hermann of American California Financial: