Long-term mortgage rates declined this week amid fresh fears over the effects the new Omicron coronavirus variant might have on the economy, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac reported in its Primary Mortgage Market Survey on Thursday. Freddie Mac’s report is based on first-lien prime conventional conforming home purchase mortgages with a loan-to-value of 80 percent. According to this week’s report, the average rate on the benchmark 30-year home loan dipped to 3.05 percent this week from 3.12 percent last week. A year ago, the 30-year rate stood at 2.66 percent. Meanwhile, the average rate on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages (FRM) fell to 2.3 percent from 2.34 percent last week. A year ago at this time, the 15-year FRM averaged 2.19 percent. “The market volatility resulting from the COVID-19 Omicron variant is causing mortgage rates to decrease,” said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist. “As the year comes to a close, the housing market is …