NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. 30-year fixed home loan rates on Wednesday slid by as much as 3/8 percentage point to about 5 percent, nearing record lows, after the Federal Reserve more than doubled its planned purchases of mortgage-related securities.

The Fed announced "a shopping spree that would make Donald Trump blush," said Bob Walters, chief economist at Quicken Loans in Livonia, Michigan, which already cut the mortgage rates it offers by 1/4 to 3/8 point.

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  1. There’s both good and bad stuff going on here. The bad, obviously, is that the mortgage rates are so low it’s hard to back up again. On the plus side, though, the mortgage rates are so low that people who’ve been smart enough to save before the recession even began can now invest in many homes they normally wouldn’t be able to afford.

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