Mortgage applications declined by 2% week over week during the week ended March 21, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey.

Meanwhile, purchase applications showed their strongest increase in almost two months, rising 7% year over year.

“Last week’s purchase activity was driven primarily by a 6% increase in FHA applications, as the combination of loosening housing inventory and slowly declining mortgage rates have presented this segment of buyers with more opportunities,” said Joel Kan, MBA’s vice president and deputy chief economist. “Overall applications declined, however, as refinance applications were down 5% to its lowest level in a month.”

Buyers’ uncertainty about U.S. trade and the economy may have contributed to the dip, as President Donald Trump’s tariffs continued to shake up national and international business.

“If you have uncertainty about what policy is going to look like … that is going to cause you to not make big, important decisions,” Gerald Cohen, chief economist at Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise at the University of North Carolina, recently told NPR in response to changes in U.S trade policy.