4.50% for Purchase Money? Who knows, could be...
With the phones ringing and the emails coming on questions with the 4.5% rate news, I wanted to go ahead and send this out as an alert.  I have highlighted the most important areas.
It was announced this week that the Treasury Department is strongly considering a plan to dramatically force down interest rates in an effort to stimulate our housing market.  Under the plan, the Treasury would would set up a special loan program for purchase loans only (NOT REFINANCES) whereby the Treasury would buy mortgages from lenders who are offering fixed rates at or below 4.5%.

We are still in the early stages of this, but it sounds like the Treasury is upset that this leaked out.  Obviously, as potential home buyers hear about this plan it could cause more of them to sit on the fence, which is exactly what we don't need right now.  Hopefully, the fact that this did leak out will force the Treasury to put the plan in place sooner rather than later.
The plan remains in discussion and will probably not be made final before the Bush administration's term ends in January- if ever.  President-elect Barack Obama has said repeatedly that his administration would do more than the current one to help struggling homeowners, but he has not offered specifics.
I still maintain that this is an awesome time to buy property - rates are near historic lows, and inventory is high.  If rates do drop to these levels, and the government continues to reduce the number of foreclosures, we'll see an immediate increase in demand along with the reduction in supply.  That is probably good overall for you and I - but for buyers, their best negotiating position may be now.  Waiting for a little lower interest rate - when it means paying more for the property - is not a good trade-off.  Let me know if I can help any of your potential clients or friends understand why the time is now to buy!
Rest assured that I will be keeping a very close eye on this situation as it develops and I will alert you if and when the measure is finalized. 
I'll continue to keep you updated in these turbulent times.  To your success!