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Fixed-Rate Mortgage Drops to Record 3.69%: Zillow

Mortgage rates slumped to record lows Tuesday. Again.

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Real estate Web site ""Zillow"":http://www.zillow.com/ released the weekly Zillow Mortgage Marketplace, which it develops by pooling quotes for mortgage rates from online users.

The Web site reported the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage hitting 3.69 percent this week ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô rock bottom, and a new low for the third straight week.

Interest rates for a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage hovered around 3.03 percent, all while the figures for 5-year and 1-year adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 2.63 percent.

""Rates have once again dropped to a new low and there are many refinancing options available to assist homeowners who are underwater on their mortgages, such as the recently revamped HARP program,"" ""Erin Lantz"":http://www.zillow.com/profile/Erin-Lantz/, director of Zillow Mortgage Marketplace, said in a statement.

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""Although we don't expect 30-year-fixed rates to rise above the 4 percent range in the first half of the year, refinancing is not an overnight process so homeowners should start exploring their options now to take advantage of these rates,"" she added.

Europe remains a central concern for investors, who continue to flee the continent in favor of U.S. Treasury debt, which keeps rates low when yields widen.

Last week Standard & Poor's made news once more by slashing credit ratings for nine eurozone countries, including those for economic heavyweights France, Italy, and Spain.

With the exception of New Jersey, whose rates fell six basis points to arrive at 3.6 percent, few of the mortgage rates for other states listed by Zillow differed much.

Pennsylvania ranked second after the Garden State with a decline by four basis points that landed rates for the 30-year loan at 3.67 percent.

Colorado saw its mortgage rates fall by 2 basis points to arrive at 3.67 percent, with Florida in close pursuit by one basis point that placed the Sunshine State at 3.69 percent.

Mortgage rates in New York went up by one basis point to reach 3.65 percent.

California, Illinois, Texas, and Washington all saw rates for their mortgage loans rise by 3 basis points, with figures for each climbing to 3.74 percent, 3.78 percent, 3.76 percent, and 3.7 percent, respectively.