By Tess Stynes
Real-estate website Zillow Inc. (Z) said its real-time rate on
30-year fixed-rate mortgages fell in the latest week, dropping
below 4%.
The 30-year fixed-mortgage rate on Zillow's Mortgage
Marketplace, which tracks mortgages on the company's website,
decreased to 3.97% from 4.05% a week earlier.
Erin Lantz, vice president of mortgages at Zillow, pointed to
the uncertainty and turmoil following the Malaysia Airlines Flight
17 disaster and continuing military activity in the Middle
East.
"This week, despite a fair amount of domestic economic data
slated for release, we expect events in the Middle East and Ukraine
will continue to put a damper on rates," she added.
Zillow said the rate for a 15-year fixed home loan was 3.01%,
compared with 3.03% the previous week. The rate for a 5-1
adjustable-rate mortgage was 2.77%, compared with 2.79%. A 5-1 ARM
has an initial rate that applies for the first five years of the
loan and then adjusts annually.
Zillow's real-time mortgage rates are based on thousands of
custom mortgage quotes submitted daily to anonymous borrowers
through the company's website.
Write to Tess Stynes at tess.stynes@wsj.com