The average rate on a 30-year mortgage in the U.S. eased for the third week in a row, a smidgen of relief for prospective home shoppers getting into the market before the busy spring homebuying season starts.

The average rate fell to 6.89% from 6.95% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. A year ago, it averaged 6.64%.

Borrowing costs on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, popular with homeowners seeking to refinance their home loan to a lower rate, also retreated this week. The average rate fell to 6.05% from 6.12% last week. A year ago, it averaged 5.9%.

The average rate on a 30-year mortgage briefly fell to a 2-year low just above 6% last September, but has been mostly rising since then, echoing a sharp rise in the 10-year Treasury yield, which lenders use as a guide for pricing home loans.

More Americans filed unemployment claims last week, but the labor market remains healthy and there are still relatively few layoffs.

U.S. applications for jobless benefits rose by 11,000 to 219,000 for the week ending February 1, the Labor Department said Thursday. Analysts were projecting only 213,000 new applications.

The four-week average, which evens out some of the weekly volatility, rose by 4,000 to 216,750.

While the labor market did start to show some minor signs of weakness last year, jobs remain plentiful and layoffs historically low.

Last month, the Labor Department reported that job growth in December surged and unemployment fell. Employers added 256,000 jobs in the final month of 2024 and the unemployment rate ticked down to 4.1%.

The final jobs report of 2024 showed that the economy and hiring were able to grow at a solid pace even with interest rates much higher than they were before the pandemic.