NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Long-term mortgage rates rose this week on signs of stronger-than-expected economic growth.

The rate on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 5.81 percent in the week ended Thursday, with an average 0.6 of a point payable up front, up from an average 5.72 percent last week.

A year earlier, the rate on the 30-year fixed-rate loan stood at 5.89 percent.

The 15-year mortgage rate climbed to 5.23 percent, with 0.6 of a point up front, from last week's 5.15 percent. Last year, the average rate stood at 5.22 percent.

One-year adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs) averaged 4.19 percent, unchanged from the previous week, with 0.6 of a point payable up front. At this time last year, the one-year ARM rate averaged 3.77 percent.

"Recent economic indicators came out better than had been anticipated, buoying financial markets this week, and reinvigorating confidence in financial markets that the last three months of the year will post a very positive rate of economic growth," Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist, said in a statement.

"Of course, with the signs of strong growth come fears of inflation and that tends to push up long-term mortgage rates," he added.

The government said Tuesday that robust consumer spending on cars, furniture and food helped power U.S. economic growth forward in the third quarter at a faster pace than previously thought.

The Commerce Department reported that gross domestic product, which measures all goods and services produced within U.S. borders, grew at a 3.9 percent annual pace in the three months from July through September, up from the 3.7 percent estimated a month ago.

In addition, consumer spending rose a sharper-than-expected 0.7 percent in October, but rising food and energy prices ate up much of that gain, a government said on Wednesday.

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Adjusted for inflation, personal spending climbed a smaller 0.3 percent, a slowdown from September's 0.5 percent advance, the Commerce Department said.

That economic data, combined with the continuing weakness in the U.S. dollar, further confirmed that the U.S. economy was on a firm footing and that the Federal Reserve will not detract from its measured rate tightening path, pushing the long-term mortgage rates higher.

Freddie Mac's average mortgage rates are based on a survey of 125 lenders nationwide.