Mortgage rates fell this week, as economic and pandemic-related uncertainty halted an upward trend.

After months of barely budging, rates rose significantly in early January at their strongest pace since the spring. But that upward momentum has since dissipated, and it appears that fears of an extended, more substantial spike in rates have diminished – at least for now. While rates haven’t returned to the all-time lows they ended 2020 at, they steadily retreated over the last week, erasing about half of the increases made in the past few weeks, and now sit at their lowest levels in two weeks.

Absent significant disappointments in key economic data, pandemic-related developments, or disruptions in the plans for additional fiscal relief spending, it’s unlikely that mortgage rates will trend much lower. But the ongoing uncertainty in all three of those areas has also held rates in check and will likely prevent them from heading significantly higher anytime soon.