Autumn means flying pigskins, falling leaves and dropping temperatures, but don’t hold your breath for mortgage rates to drop much further in the weeks ahead. Those in the know expect rates to stay flat in the short term before possibly creeping higher as we close out the year.

The average rate on 30-year mortgages fell to 3.04 percent the week ending Aug. 25, down from 3.06 percent a week earlier, according to Bankrate’s weekly survey of large lenders. And rates in August held barely above the record low of 2.93 percent, set in January. READ MORE