More house hunters are seeing something that's been very hard to come by since August—mortgage rates below 7%.

The average rate offered for a 30-year mortgage dropped to 6.95% this week from 7.03% last week, mortgage giant Freddie Mac said Thursday. The seventh rate decrease in as many weeks offers some relief for would-be home loan borrowers, who saw rates average near 8% at the end of October.

Rates have fallen because of cooling inflation in recent months, which has fueled expectations in financial markets that the Federal Reserve will soon begin to lower its influential fed funds ꦬrat🧜e, which it's held at a 22-year high since July to combat inflation. Those expectations got a boost Wednesday, when Fed policymakers signaled they don't expect to raise the key interest rate any more, and will cut it next year.

Mortgage rates could continue to fall in the coming months, spurring activity in a housing market that's been 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:all but paralyzed lately because high mortgage rates have combined with high prices to make typical homes unaffordable for 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:all but high-income borrowers or people who already own houses to sell.

“Given inflation continues to decelerate and the Federal Reserve Board’s current expectations that they will lower the federal funds target rate next year, we likely will see a gradual thawing of the housing market in the new year," Sam Khater, chief economist of Freddie Mac, said in a press release.

Freddie Mac’s 30-year mortgage average is a weekly reading, based on a blending of five previous days of rates. Investopedia publishes its own daily averages, for 13 different mortgage types. Today’s daily 30-year average is 7.28%, which is the 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:lowest reading since July 26.