LendingTree's latest Mortgage Rate Competition Index revealed that the number of mortgage borrowers with interest rates under 5% inched forward for the week ending Feb. 26, 2019.
The report states that for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages, 86.5% of purchase borrowers received offers with interest rates under 5%, rising from 84.2% last week. Notably, this is still slightly below 2018’s rate when 87.3% of purchase offers were under 5%.
The report also highlights that across all 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage purchase applications made on LendingTree’s website, 19.86% of borrowers were offered an interest rate of 4.625%, making it the most common interest rate.
Furthermore, 82% of 30-year fixed-rate mortgage refinance borrowers received offers under 5%, moderately increasing from 80.5% one week prior. This total still remains down from 2018’s rate when 84.3 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 19.2% 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 came in at 0.66, sliding from 0.68 the prior week.
However, the refinance market index was wider, coming in at 0.73, but still below last week’s 0.78.
“The distribution of rates — and as a result, the Mortgage Rate Competition Index — has widened as rates increased, reflecting how mortgage lenders may change the rates at which they can offer consumers loans, depending on their unique business circumstances,” LendingTree writes.
(Click to enlarge)
