Yet, long term, they will cause mortgage rates to rise as investors demand better returns," said Nicole Rueth, SVP of the Rueth Team Power

For his part, Lewis says mortgage rates are poised to drop in February, after climbing above 7% in January. “The direction of consumer prices will have the strongest effect on mortgage rates in February. The core inflation rate should decline further, giving bond yields and mortgage rates room to fall, but not by a lot,” says Lewis.

The average rate on a 30-year mortgage in the U.S. eased for the second week in a row, but remains just below 7%, little relief for prospective home shoppers looking ahead to the spring homebuying season.

The current mortgage rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage rose by 0.01 percentage point in the last week to 6.92%, according to the Mortgage Research Center. Meanwhile, the APR on a 15-year fixed mortgage dropped 0.