Mortgage rates in the US will decline this year, stoking optimism about the battered real estate market, according to the latest Bloomberg Markets Live Pulse survey.

The rate on a 30-year, fixed mortgage is expected to fall to 5.5% at the end of the year, according to the median from 236 respondents. That’d be down more than a full percentage point from its current level of about 6.69%, and the first annual decline after three straight years of gains.