Mortgage rates that fell to historic lows this week are triggering more homeowner interest in refinancing and more inquiries from would-be buyers, Rochester-area real estate brokers said.

The national average on a 30-year fixed-rate loan slipped below 5 percent, to 4.96 percent, for the first time since the mortgage company Freddie Mac began tracking rates in 1971.

Chuck Hilbert, president of the Greater Rochester Association of Realtors, said he expects to see the local market pick up.

“We hit bottom in 2008,” he said. “Now we’ll see a continual rise.”

There were signs of an upturn in December, according to figures the association released Friday. After sales plunged 29 percent in November from a year earlier, they rebounded to post a slight year-over-year gain in December.

But for all of 2008, sales of existing homes in the region were down 13 percent from 2007, to a total of 10,958.

Values remained stable for most of 2008, with the median selling price at $117,000. But that stability was called into question in December, when, despite the increase in sales volume, the median price slipped 6 percent to $110,000.

Real estate agents said it likely was a one-month blip, possibly reflecting that many houses sold in December were in lower price categories.

“I don’t think it’s a long-term trend,” said Armand D’Alfonso, president and chief executive of Nothnagle Realtors. “Housing is a stable investment in Rochester.”

D’Alfonso contrasted Rochester with many other markets around the country that saw a big run-up in prices early in the decade only to crash in the past couple of years. Nationally, the median selling price of existing homes fell 15.5 percent in November compared with November 2007, according to the National Association of Realtors. December numbers for the nation have not yet been released.

Although local real estate professionals were unperturbed about December’s price dip, Amit Batabyal, an economics professor at Rochester Institute of Technology, said it might be a sign that Rochester, too, is losing some of its stability.

“Median home price declines have occurred in many housing markets in the U.S., but up until now Rochester was generally immune from such pressures,” Batabyal said. “The decline in the median price, combined with flat sales, is a sign the Rochester real estate market is not anywhere near an equilibrium and that there’s some instability in this market.”

The lower interest rates, however, could spur an increase in demand, which would likely push prices up again.

“With the lower rates, many people are calling about getting prequalified to purchase a new home and calling regarding refinances,” said Christine Nothnagle, president of Nothnagle Home Securities, the realty firm’s mortgage division.

Hilbert pointed out that when interest rates drop, buyers are able to get more home for the same amount of money. For example, a monthly principal-and-interest payment of $600 is enough for a $100,000 home at a 6 percent rate. At 5 percent, the same payment could support a $112,000 home.

While the inquiries are pouring in at Flaherty Funding in Henrietta, the mortgage firm’s president, Tom Flaherty, described the wave as a different type of refinancing boom. For one thing, there is tremendous scrutiny of applications by lenders, who either got burned by defaults on subprime mortgages or who always have been conservative in their lending practices.

As a result, people who might have qualified for an original mortgage with little or no income verification a few years ago may not be able to qualify for a refinance now at 5 percent, Flaherty said. Some who are applying for a refinance are often surprised at the gantlet they have to go through to get a loan, he said.

“The pendulum had swung so far in one direction, now the pendulum is swinging far in the other direction.”

The real deals to be had in this scenario are for creditworthy borrowers who want to refinance or to purchase a new home, Flaherty said. “You’re not going to get a better chance on getting a good deal on the price of a home and at a great rate,” he said.

The interest rate decline comes as a welcome relief to some real estate professionals. After a lackluster fourth quarter at ReMax Realty Group in Pittsford, agents have been busy in the new year, with a lot of traffic at open houses and plenty of inquiries about buying and selling, said president Michael Haymes.

“The banks are very anxious to do business,” Haymes said. “It’s getting people off the fence.”

Appropriately priced houses in good condition continue to sell well in the Rochester area, said Patrick Hastings, associate broker at ReMax Plus in Brighton, who called it “a very resilient market.”

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