The share of borrowers with interest rates under 5% is growing, signaling Americans are getting more bang for their buck.
According to LendingTree's Mortgage Rate Competition Index, borrowers with rates under 5% hit 85% for the week ending Feb. 3, 2019.
“Homebuyers could have seen median lifetime savings of $30,858 in interest on a $300,000 loan by comparison shopping for the best mortgage rates,” LendingTree Chief Economist Tendayi Kapfidze said.
The report states that for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages, 84.6% of purchase borrowers received offers under 5%, rising from 78.9% last week. Notably, this is still a decrease from 2018’s rate when 89.2% of purchase offers were under 5%.
LendingTree also highlights that across all 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage purchase applications made on its website, 20.7% of borrowers were offered an interest rate of 4.625%, making it the most common interest rate.
According to the report, 75.6% of 30-year fixed-rate mortgage refinance borrowers received offers under 5%, moderately increasing from 72.7% one week prior. This is still down from 2018’s rate when 87.2% of refinance offers were under 5%.
Lastly, across all 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage refinance applications, the most common interest rate was 4.625%. This rate was offered to 18.8% of borrowers, according to the report.
When it came to mortgage competition, LendingTree reports that across all 30-year fixed-rate mortgage purchase applications on its site, the index edged up to 0.66. And the refinance market index was wider, climbing to 0.83.
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NOTE: The LendingTree Mortgage Rate Competition Index measures the spread in the APR of the best offers available on its website.
