The declining mortgage rates are creating even more opportunities for loan officers to contact homeowners locked into higher interest rate loans.

According to the latest data released Thursday by Freddie Mac, the 30-year fixed-rate average tumbled to 4.45 percent with an average 0.5 point. (Points are fees paid to a lender equal to 1 percent of the loan amount.) It was 4.51 percent a week ago and 3.99 percent a year ago. The 30-year fixed rate dropped below 4.5 percent for the first time since April.

The 15-year fixed-rate average fell to 3.89 percent with an average 0.4 point. It was 3.99 percent a week ago and 3.44 percent a year ago. The five-year adjustable rate average sank to 3.83 percent with an average 0.3 point. It was 3.98 percent a week ago and 3.46 percent a year ago.

In a policy guidance published last week, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced changes to the mortgage data it will publish in 2019, increasing protections for consumer information related to credit scores and home addresses.

The Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) was enacted to make sure that financial institutions are faithfully meeting the requirements of different communities across the U.S., assisting in distributing private investment to areas which need it, and identifying and stopping discriminatory lending activity.

The CFPB publishes loan data every year to inform real estate stakeholders about these trends. After seeking public comment on the new disclosure rules, the Bureau unveiled changes to protect individuals’ privacy.

“The Bureau determines that public disclosure of the unmodified loan-level dataset, as a whole, would create risks to applicant and borrower privacy interests and that the loan-level HMDA data must be modified before the data is disclosed to the public,” reads the new guidance document.