Mortgage rates dropped to a historic low, but fewer people are getting home loans.

The benchmark 30-year fixed-rate mortgage fell 13 basis points, to 5.06 percent, according to the Bankrate.com national survey of large lenders released Thursday. A basis point is one-hundredth of one percentage point.

That's the lowest rate on the 30-year fixed in the 24-year history of North Palm Beach-based Bankrate's weekly mortgage index. Previously, the all-time low had been 5.13 percent, on April 1 this year. (The highest was 12.31 percent -- in the survey, conducted Sept. 25, 1985.)

The mortgages in this week's survey had an average total of 0.4 discount and origination points. One year ago, the mortgage index was 6.33 percent; four weeks ago, it was 5.34 percent.

The benchmark 15-year fixed-rate mortgage fell 13 basis points, to 4.48 percent. That, too, is a record low. The benchmark 5/1 adjustable-rate mortgage was unchanged, at 4.58 percent. That's a record low dating back to when Bankrate started collecting 5/1 ARM rates at the beginning of 2005. And the benchmark 30-year fixed jumbo fell 29 basis points, to 5.95 percent. It was 5.6 percent in June 2003.

Despite the low rates, fewer home buyers applied for mortgages last week than at any time since November 1997, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. The MBA's purchase application index has fallen six weeks in a row to settle at that 12-year nadir.