LendingTree Weekly Mortgage Rate Pulse Reports Rates at 4.375 Percent

CHARLOTTE, NC (June 23, 2010) – According to LendingTree’s Weekly Mortgage Rate Pulse, a snapshot of the lowest and average mortgage rates available within the LendingTree network of lenders, on June 22,, lenders on the LendingTree network offered rates as low as 4.375 percent (4.51% APR) for a 30-year fixed mortgage, 3.75 percent (3.99% APR) for a 15-year fixed mortgage and 3.25 percent (3.53% APR) for a 5/1 adjustable rate mortgage (ARM). Rates remained flat week over week.

The overall average rate offered by lenders on the LendingTree network dropped week over week to 4.75 percent (4.94% APR) for 30-year fixed mortgages, 4.14 percent (4.38% APR) for 15-year fixed mortgages and 3.74 percent (3.84% APR) for 5/1 ARMs.

According to LendingTree data, the home loan rates a consumer is offered by different lenders can vary by as much as 0.35 percent.

“Mortgage rates have been extremely volatile in the past few weeks driven by impending Mortgage Reform and foreign government demand for U.S debt, like Treasury bonds,” said Cameron Findlay, Chief Economist of LendingTree.com.  “This volatility creates an opportunity for borrowers to catch lenders off guard by finding someone who has not increased their rates relative to the shift in the market. The magnitude of that volatility today, its propensity to change before rates are recast, is approximately 0.35%.”

To put the 0.35% rate variance into perspective, a borrower taking out a $250,000 loan could save $54 a month by shopping around to find a lender offering the lower rate (5.00% vs. 5.35%).  Borrowers looking to find the best deal can use the free LendingTree Look Before You Lock tool to see if the rate they’ve been offered is comparable to offers received by consumers with similar loan profiles. In just a few quick steps, Look Before You Lock lets homebuyers know whether they should jump on their rate, or continue looking.