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NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Fixed-rate mortgages continued their decline to record lows this week and the 5-year adjustable rate also reached a new low, Freddie Mac reported Thursday.

"Low rates are helping to heal many battered local housing markets by increasing home-purchase activity," said Frank Nothaft, vice president and chief economist at Freddie Mac, in a news release.

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 4.44% for the week ending Aug. 12, according to Freddie Mac's weekly survey of conforming mortgage rates. It averaged 4.49% last week and 5.29% a year ago. The rate is now at its lowest level since Freddie Mac started tracking it in 1971.

The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.92% this week, down from 3.95% last week and 4.68% a year ago. It is also at its lowest point since Freddie Mac started tracking the rate in 1991.

Five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 3.56% this week, down from 3.63% last week and 4.75% a year ago. The ARM is at its lowest since Freddie Mac began tracking it in 2005.

And 1-year Treasury-indexed ARM averaged 3.53% this week, down from 3.55% last week and 4.72% a year ago.

To obtain the rates, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage and both of the ARMs required payment of an average 0.7 point. The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage required an average 0.6 point. A point is 1% of the mortgage amount, charged as prepaid interest.

Rates broke record lows after reports of a sluggish economy, Nothaft said.

April Lee is a MarketWatch Reporter based in New York. By April Lee MarketWatch