Zillow 30-year mortgage rates go up, CEO steps down

The 30-year, fixed-mortgage rate increased last week to 4.32% from a near-record low of 4.27% the week prior, according to the Zillow Mortgage Marketplace weekly update. Weekly rates were made available the same day the co-founder and chief executive officer, Rich Barton, announced he was stepping down from his position. He will still remain at Zillow as executive chairman and Spencer Rascoff will take his place as CEO. Rascoff previously served as vice president of lodging at Expedia, which he joined after InterActiveCorp‘s $675 million acquisition of discount travel site Hotwire.com in 2003. He founded Hotwire.com in 1999. Rascoff joined Zillow in 2005 and has acted as chief operating officer since 2008. The national average rate fell steadily through August. Zillow said the current 15-year, fixed average rate is 3.76% and the rate for a 5-1 adjustable rate mortgage is 3.27%. That type of mortgage maintains a steady rate for five years and then is adjusted annually thereafter. Regionally, 30-year rates vary, but the majority of states witnessed an inflation. Rates in Florida rose to 4.36% from 4.19% the previous week, Pennsylvania’s average rate was 4.39% last week, up from 4.31%, California’s rate increased to 4.32% from 4.26%, and Massachusetts saw its average rate climb to 4.32% from 4.24%. Meanwhile New York’s current rate of 4.31% is down from 4.35% last week. New Jersey’s average rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage fell to 4.28% from 4.36% at Aug. 31. Zillow bases its averages on real-time mortgage quotes from lenders registered with the company. The national average comes from thousands of daily quotes by anonymous borrowers through the Seattle-based company’s website. Write to Christine Ricciardi.