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Mortgage rates this week are at their lowest point of 2011 after declining for the fourth consecutive week.

According to results from Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey, the fixed rate for a 30-year mortgage ended the week with an average of 4.63 percent. That is down from the 4.93 percent average noted last week, and is down from an average of 4.93 percent a year ago.

Moreover, the average 15-year fixed-rate mortgage ended the week at 3.82 percent, which is down from 3.89 percent last week and 4.3 percent from this time last year.

According to Frank Nothaft, vice president and chief economist with Freddie Mac, mortgage rates continue to decline following mixed employment reports from last week. The country added 244,000 employees in April, which was the most in 11 months. But the unemployment rate rose by 0.2 percent over the month of March (April data has yet to come out) to 9 percent, he said.

Freddie Mac was established by the U.S. Congress in 1970. Its main purpose is to provide mortgage capital to lenders across the country.