Mortgage rate averages have fallen below 6.5%, but a sustained surge of buyers has yet to come back to the market.

The 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.46% as of Aug. 22, slightly lower than its previous weekly average of 6.49%, and lower than the comparable week this time last year when it stood at 7.23%, mortgage giant Freddie Mac said Thursday.

Similarly, the 15-year, fixed-rate mortgage lowered, averaging 5.62%. That’s lower than last week when it stood at 5.66%, and it’s lower than a year earlier when it was 6.55%.

It’s a trend expected to continue as “softer incoming economic data suggest rates will gently slope downward through the end of the year,” Freddie Mac’s chief economist, Sam Khater, said Thursday in a statement.

At the same time, daily mortgage rates had one of their best days in more than a year Wednesday, according to data and analysis website Mortgage News Daily.

“Although the day-to-day changes in mortgage rates have been modest recently, the slow and steady improvement has brought the average top tier 30-year, fixed-rate back near the lowest levels in more than a year,” the website’s chief operating officer, Matthew Graham, wrote in a post. “There were no significant sources of inspiration for today's market movement although there was some volatility surrounding the release of updated payroll figures for extremely old labor market data.”

The recent downward trend in mortgage rates briefly spurred borrower activity, driving a spike in both purchase applications and refinancing. But that boom has slowed, according to the latest mortgage application data from the Mortgage Banker’s Association.

In the week ended Aug. 16, mortgage applications fell 10.1% compared to the previous week. Refinance applications were 15% lower and purchase applications dropped 5% during the same time.

It’s a sign that prospective homebuyers could be returning to a wait-and-see mentality, according to the industry group’s president and CEO, Bob Broeksmit.

“Despite the continued decline in rates, applications to refinance and buy a home both fell last week, which may be an indication that some prospective borrowers are hoping that rates decrease even more before they decide to apply,” he said Thursday in a statement.

Some buyers could be waiting for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates, a move that is expected to come in September. If and when the central bank lowers interest rates, the mortgage market could receive relief.

“We expect rates likely will need to decline another percentage point to generate buyer demand,” Khater said.

In the meantime, prospective homebuyers could be opting to rent apartments or stay in place. That's good for landlords and developers trying to keep vacancy rates contained, but it could keep existing housing inventory tied up.

But industry professionals have warned that the effect may not be as profound as some consumers are expecting. The market is already accounting for the change in interest rates, and mortgage rates are responding to those expectations, Sean Salter, a finance professor at Middle Tennessee State University, said in a survey from personal finance website Bankrate.

“Now that the market has baked in a 50 basis point rate cut — which most analysts believe will happen after the Fed meets in September — I expect rates to hover in the current range,” Salter said.