National 30-year Fixed Mortgage Rate Falls Below 5 Percent

Yesterday rates for 30-year fixed purchase mortgages decreased 4.94 percent after falling last week to 4.96 percent, down from 5.02 percent the week.

Rates for 15-year fixed mortgages fell to 4.39 percent from 4.42 percent, and 5-1 adjustable rate mortgages fell to 3.85 percent, down from 3.94 the prior week. The weekly average rate borrowers were quoted on Zillow Mortgage Marketplace for 30-year fixed mortgages, according to the Zillow Mortgage Rate Monitor, compiled by leading real estate Web site Zillow.com®.

The volume of mortgage requests increased significantly last week from 10,963 to 13,081. Of this week’s requests, 50.2 percent were for refinance loans, 47.7 percent were for purchase loans and 2.1 percent were for home equity loans. Last week, 43.7 percent of requests were for refinance loans, 54.1 percent were for purchase loans and 2.2 percent were for home equity loans.

Thirty-year fixed mortgage rates varied by state. Oregon mortgage rates and Ohio mortgage rates decreased the most, from 5.10 percent to 4.97 percent in Oregon and from 5.13 percent to 5.03 percent in Ohio. Illinois mortgage rates (5.16%), Maryland mortgage rates (5.10%) and New York mortgage rates (5.10%) were the highest in the country, while Texas mortgage rates (4.88%) and California mortgage rates (4.89%) were the lowest.

The Zillow Mortgage Rate Monitor is compiled each week using thousands of mortgage rates for conforming loans quoted on Zillow Mortgage Marketplace by mortgage lenders to borrowers who have submitted loan requests. State-level data is gathered for the top 20 states with the highest quote volume on Zillow. Learn more about our rates.