In a little more than a week, Federal Reserve policymakers are poised to lower benchmark interest rates for the first time since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Ahead of that decision, mortgage rates continued to decline, although a surge of borrowers has yet to appear.

At HousingWire‘s Mortgage Rates Center on Tuesday, the average 30-year conforming loan rate was 6.47%, down 13 basis points (bps) from one week ago. The average 15-year conforming loan rate dropped 11 bps to 6.12% during the same period.