The average long-term U.S. mortgage rate slipped this week below 6% for the first time since late 2022, good news for home shoppers as the spring homebuying season gets rolling.

The benchmark 30-year fixed rate mortgage rate fell to 5.98% from 6.01% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. One year ago, the rate averaged 6.76%.

The average rate has been hovering close to 6% this year. This latest dip, its third decline in a row, brings it closer to its lowest level since Sept. 8, 2022, when it was 5.89%.

Mortgage rates are influenced by several factors, from the Federal Reserve’s interest rate policy decisions to bond market investors’ expectations for the economy and inflation. They generally follow the trajectory of the 10-year Treasury yield, which lenders use as a guide to pricing home loans.

The 10-year Treasury yield was at 4.02% at midday Thursday, down from around 4.07% a week ago.

Mortgage rates have been trending lower for months, helping drive a pickup in home sales the last four months of 2025, but not enough to lift the housing market out of its slump dating back to 2022, when mortgage rates began to climb from pandemic-era lows.

Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes remained stuck last year at 30-year lows. And more buyer-friendly mortgage rates this year weren’t enough to lift home sales last month. They posted the biggest monthly drop in nearly four years and the slowest annualized sales pace in more than two years.

Still, with the average rate on a 30-year mortgage now below 6% as the annual spring homebuying season begins, it could encourage prospective home shoppers who can afford to buy at current rates to shop for a home this spring.

“Assuming rates stay below 6%, buyers and sellers are going to start getting back into the market,” said Lisa Sturtevant, chief economist at Bright MLS. “March is when the spring homebuying season typically begins to ramp up and with rates at a three-and-a-half year low, it could be a barn burner of a spring homebuying season.”