WASHINGTON >> The average U.S. mortgage rate fell below a key threshold of 4 percent this week, its lowest level in five months.

Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday the average interest rate on 30-year fixed-rate home loans declined to 3.97 percent this week from 4.08 percent last week. Interest rates on mortgages began to rise after President Donald Trump won the November election, but they’ve started falling as the fate of tax reform and other policies has become uncertain.

The 30-year rate stood at 3.59 percent a year ago and averaged 3.65 percent in 2016, the lowest level in records dating to 1971. Lower rates translate to lower monthly mortgage payments for homebuyers.

The rate on 15-year mortgages declined to 3.23 percent from 3.34 percent last week.

ON THE MOVE

Kaiser Permanente Hawaii has announced the following new physicians and providers:

>> Dr. Michelle Delneo has joined the gastroenterology department at Kaiser Permanente’s Mapunapuna Medical Office. Previously, Delneo finished her internal medicine residency at Yale-New Haven Hospital in New Haven, Conn., and completed her gastroenterology fellowship training while she served as chief fellow at Montefiore Medical Center in New York.

>> Dr. Erin Hunt has joined the after-hours care department at Kaiser Permanente Moanalua Medical Center. Hunt completed her family medicine residency at the Tacoma Family Medicine Residency Program in Tacoma, Wash.

>> Dr. Kenneth Kao specializes in plastic and reconstructive surgery at Kaiser Permanente Moanalua Medical Center. Kao completed his residencies in general surgery as well as plastic and reconstructive surgery at Ronald Regan UCLA Medical Center.