Zillow: Mortgage Rates Fall. Again

Mortgage rates continued falling to new lows, according to real estate Web site ""Zillow"":http://www.zillow.com/, which released rates in the latest Mortgage Marketplace note Tuesday. According to Zillow, the benchmark 30-year fixed-rate loan jumped four basis points to hit 4.07 percent Saturday, up from 4.09 percent last week.

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Unlike fellow mortgage-rate trackers ""Freddie Mac"":http://www.freddiemac.com/ and ""Bankrate"":http://www.bankrate.com/, Zillow tracks mortgage rates by pooling anonymous loan quotes submitted by the 1.7 million users that it says follow its Web site on a daily basis.

According to Zillow, rates for the 15-year fixed-rate mortgage hovered at 3.37 percent, even as the rates for Treasury-indexed adjustable-rate mortgages hit 2.84 percent.

The site offered up mortgage rates by state, measuring 10 states ranging from the Deep South to the Northwest.

California saw a five basis-point decline, watching its 30-year fixed-rate mortgages fall from 4.05 percent to 4 percent, while Colorado signaled a 24 basis-point jump, with 3.98-percent rates leaping to 4.22 percent. Florida and Illinois each saw their mortgage rates fall, with rates declining from 4.09 percent and 4.15 percent to 4.04 percent and 4 percent, respectively.

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Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Texas, and Washington saw their rates decline the least. The Bay State saw a 3.98-percent mortgage rate jump to 4 percent, while New Jersey signaled a five basis-point spike in rates, with 4.02 percent rising to 4.07 percent.

Mortgage rates in New York went from 3.94 percent to 4.09 percent, as Pennsylvania observed mortgage rates falling from 4.06 percent to 4.01 percent. Texas mortgage rates fell from 4.1 percent to 4.04 percent, meanwhile, as Washington saw its mortgage rates dip from 4.08 percent to 4.03 percent.

The findings reported by Zillow track a trend in which mortgage rates continue to fall. With trouble in euro zone markets sending investors en masse to safer, albeit downgraded U.S. debt, bond buy-ups persist in depressing Treasury yields, against which lenders and government entities benchmark mortgage rates.

Lower mortgage rates reported by the Web site company follow in the footsteps of a recent release by Zillow. According to the Web site, home values continue their descent alongside mortgage rates, with home values cresting at $171,600 on average ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô a 28.8-percent dip since their peak in 2006.

A ""statement"":http://zillow.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=159&item=233 by Zillow chief economist Dr. Stan Humphries summed up ongoing concerns over mortgage markets and the housing economy.

""While there are many positive signs in the second quarter, and it is clear the post-tax credit free-fall of home values is over, we're not out of the woods yet,"" he said. ""It is very encouraging that two-thirds of markets in our report experienced home value appreciation, but we have to remember that this is coming on the heels of one of the worst quarters since the housing recession began.""

He added: ""We expect a bumpy road ahead.""