Mortgage Rates - Latest Data Reveal Average Rates Still Rising Week After Week

LendingTree’s Weekly Mortgage Rate Pulse recently announced that rates are still rising week over week. The weekly report is a picture in time of the average mortgage rates on offer by lenders in the LendingTree network.

Rates for a 30-year fixed mortgage rose .22% to 5.05% last week. Same trend occurred for the 15-year fixed mortgage climbing to 4.38% and the 5/1 adjustable rate mortgage crept up to 3.93%. The reporting date was December 14.

The absolute lowest rates within the network are 4.5% on the 30-year fixed, 3.88 on the 15-year fixed,and 3.00 for the 5/1 Adjustable.

“When there’s volatility in the market like this, spreads between lenders widen and competition among banks heats up, making it imperative for consumers to do their homework before locking in a rate,” said Nicole Hall, LendingTree home loan shopping expert. “According to a recent LendingTree survey, we found though 9 in 10 borrowers understand interest rates vary between lenders, nearly 40 percent obtained only one home loan quote when shopping for their mortgage. This is disheartening, but explains why fewer than 28 percent of borrowers are very confident they received the best possible deal on their current mortgage.”