WASHINGTON — Rates on 30-year mortgages fell for a sixth consecutive week, providing home buyers with more relief from an earlier rise in rates.

Mortgage giant Freddie Mac said yesterday that 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages dipped to 6.44 percent this week, down from 6.48 percent last week.

That was the lowest level for 30-year mortgages since they averaged 6.43 percent the first week in April.

Mortgage rates hit a four-year high of 6.80 percent the week of July 20, before beginning a sustained decline as financial markets became more convinced that a slowing economy would keep inflation under control.

"Mortgage rates continued to drift lower this week in large part because of the cooling in the housing market and in consumer confidence, thus giving financial markets reason to believe that economic growth will moderate and inflation will remain in check," said Frank Nothaft, chief economist at Freddie Mac.

Rates on 15-year, fixed-rate mortgages averaged 6.14 percent this week, down from 6.18 percent last week.

For one-year adjustable-rate mortgages, rates dipped to 5.59 percent, down from 5.60 percent last week. Rates on five-year adjustable-rate mortgages fell to 6.11 percent, down from 6.14 percent last week.

The mortgage rates do not include add-on fees known as points. Thirty-year mortgages and 15-year mortgages both carried a nationwide average fee of 0.4 point. One-year ARMS carried a nationwide average fee of 0.7 point while five-year ARMs carried a fee of 0.5 point.