According to a lender at City Wide Financial, within the past month, mortgage rates have drastically plummeted.  He is saying that, because the mortgage rates have dropped so much, buyers who missed out on the $8,000 tax credit will be able to save more money now than what they would have saved if they’d gotten the credit when mortgage rates were higher.  Right now, rates are about -.376 - .5% lower than they were about a month ago, putting them at 50-year lows.  If you missed the tax credit and have a long-term loan at 4.625%, this lender claims you will more than make up for missing out on the $8,000 tax credit that would have been accompanied by a loan at 5%.  According to this lender, economists are saying that the sudden decrease in mortgage rates is due to the “European debt crisis and new concerns about the global economy, which unleashed a massive wave of cash into U.S. bonds from investors around the world.”