Mortgage rates finally have calmed down, after swinging wildly in the first few months of the year.

That good news is amplified by the direction that rates took last week: down. The 30-year fixed rate had risen modestly three weeks in a row.

The benchmark 30-year fixed-rate mortgage fell 3 basis points to 6.13 percent, according to the Bankrate.com national survey of large lenders, issued Thursday. A basis point is one-hundredth of 1 percentage point.

The mortgages in last week's survey had an average total of 0.4 discount and origination points. One year ago, the mortgage index was 6.29 percent; four weeks ago, it was 5.96 percent.

The benchmark 15-year fixed-rate mortgage remained at 5.71 percent. The benchmark 5/1 adjustable-rate mortgage dropped 9 basis points to 5.87 percent.