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Bernanke AP

Bernanke's speech came as Freddie Mac reported that interest rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages plummeted 0.44 percentage points in the latest week, the biggest weekly drop in 27 years.

Average rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages dropped to 5.53% this week. That was down from 5.97% last week, and the lowest since the week of Jan. 24, when it was at 5.48%.

Further drops could be on the way if the government launches an industry-backed plan to lower the rate on a 30-year mortgage to 4.5% by spending hundreds of billions to buy mortgage-backed securities issued by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

It is possible that Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson will ask Congress for the second $350 billion installment of the $700 billion financial bailout package to bankroll the effort.

That would follow an effort announced last week by the Federal Reserve, which is planning to purchase up to $600 billion of mortgage-backed securities and other debt issued by Fannie and Freddie and the Federal Home Loan Banks. Those institutions don't make loans directly to consumers, but provide money to the mortgage market by packaging loans into investments.

Mortgage rates are sinking as Treasury yields, some of the most sensitive barometers of investor sentiment, have dropped to record lows this week as a torrent of bad economic news continues. But as investors send yields down, they're also influencing the economy — driving interest rates so low that savers get punished and borrowers get a break.

Consumers already are taking advantage of the situation. New mortgage applications more than doubled last week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association's weekly survey released Wednesday. Refinance volume more than tripled, and made up nearly 70% of all applications.

Rates on other types of mortgages also fell, according to Freddie Mac's survey. For 15-year, fixed-rate mortgages, rates averaged 5.53%, down from 5.74% last week.

Rates on five-year, adjustable-rate mortgages dipped to 5.77%, compared with 5.86%. Rates on one-year, adjustable-rate mortgages dropped to 5.02%, from 5.18%.

The rates do not include add-on fees known as points. The nationwide fee for 30-year and 15-year mortgages averaged 0.7 points last week. The fee on five-year, adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 0.6 point, while the fee on one-year adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 0.5 points.

Although a flurry of actions have been taken to ease the housing crisis, foreclosures remain "too high" with adverse consequences for struggling homeowners, squeezed lenders and the broader economy, Bernanke said in prepared remarks to a Fed conference on housing and mortgage markets..

"More needs to be done," he said.

Lenders appear on track to initiate 2.25 million foreclosures this year, up from an average annual pace of less than 1 million during the pre-crisis period, he said.

To provide additional relief, Bernanke outlined a number of what he called "promising options" to reduce preventable foreclosures.

Under one plan, Bernanke called on Congress to ease the terms of a government program called "Hope for Homeowners," which lets distressed homeowners refinance into more affordable, federally insured mortgages if the lender writes down the amount owed on the mortgage and pays an upfront insurance premium.

Bernanke also suggested Congress lower lender's upfront insurance premium as well as reducing the interest rate borrowers pay. To bring down this interest rate, Treasury could buy Ginnie Mae securities, which fund the mortgage program, or Congress could decide to subsidize the rate.

Another option would ease the terms of a loan-modification plan put forward by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. that seeks to make monthly mortgage payments more affordable. The FDIC put this plan into effect at IndyMac Bank, a large savings and loan that failed earlier this year, and has used it to modify mortgages at other financial institutions.

Under the so-called IndyMac plan, struggling home borrowers pay interest rates of about 3% for five years. Rates are reduced so that borrowers aren't paying more than 38% of their pretax income on housing. Bernanke suggested this threshold could be lowered to perhaps 31% of income, with the government sharing some of the cost.

Another option would have the government purchase delinquent or at-risk mortgages in bulk and then refinance them into the Hope for Homeowners or another government program that insures home mortgages.

Other options include a broader push for lenders to forgive a portion of the home loan for certain borrowers, and other permanent modifications over the longer term so that people don't fall back into distress again.

The housing crisis has driven up foreclosures and forced financial companies to take massive losses on soured mortgage investments. The housing debacle touched off the worst financial crisis since the 1930s that Bernanke and Paulson have been desperately trying to bring under control.

All the fallout has plunged the country into a painful recession.

Bernanke stressed the importance of curbing the foreclosure mess because it is so inter-linked with the economy's health.

"Weakness in the housing market has proved a serious drag on overall economic activity," he said. "Steps that stabilize the housing market will help stabilize the economy as well."

Fielding questions after his speech, Bernanke didn't foresee government intervention specifically aimed at boosting sagging home prices.

"I don't think we would be either willing or able to target house prices. I think that would probably be an impossible thing to do given the size of the national housing market," Bernanke said.

Instead, the government can take steps to improve the functioning of the mortgage market, which would allow more people to secure home loans and help stabilize the housing market, he said.

Paulson and his colleagues within the Bush administration have come under fire by Democrats and some Republicans for not doing enough to help Americans at risk of losing their homes.

President-elect Barack Obama signaled a desire Wednesday to use a significant portion of the $700 billion pot to stanch foreclosures. "The deteriorating assets in the financial markets are rooted in the deterioration of people being able to pay their mortgages and stay in their homes," he said.

Paulson has been opposed to tapping the bailout pool to fund a mortgage-relief program championed by FDIC chief Sheila Bair. The $24 billion FDIC plan would use some of the rescue money to help back refinanced mortgages that would lower monthly payments.

Contributing: Reuters