LOS ANGELES (AP) — Mortgage rates have been mostly declining in recent weeks, helping encourage prospective home shoppers just as the spring homebuying season gets going.

But the same factors that have pulled mortgage rates to their lowest level since December — signs that the U.S. economy is slowing and uncertainty over the potential fallout from the Trump administration’s tariffs on imports — are clouding the outlook for where mortgage rates will go from here.

“We do not anticipate significant relief from high mortgage rates in the near future because of inflation remaining stubbornly high, which will not be helped by the tariffs that the Trump administration appears committed to rolling out,” said Joel Berner, senior economist at Realtor.com.

The average rate on a 30-year mortgage in the U.S. has declined seven weeks in a row from 7.04% in mid-January to 6.63% this week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. A year earlier, it averaged 6.88%.

The average rate is now at its lowest level since Dec. 12, when it was 6.6%. It briefly fell to a 2-year low last September, but remains more than double the 2.65% record low the average rate hit in January 2021.

Borrowing costs on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, popular with homeowners seeking to refinance their home loan to a lower rate, also eased this week. The average rate fell to 5.79% from 5.94% last week. A year ago, it averaged 6.22%, Freddie Mac said.

Mortgage rates are influenced by several factors, including bond market investors’ expectations for future inflation, global demand for U.S. Treasurys and the Federal Reserve’s interest rate policy decisions.