NEW YORK (CNN/Money) -
The average rate on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages rose to 5.98 percent this week, up from last week's 5.91 percent, a Freddie Mac survey said.
In the year-ago period, the 30-year mortgage averaged 5.82 percent.
The average rate on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages rose to 5.54 percent, up from 5.48 percent the previous week. A year ago, the loan averaged 5.24 percent.
"We think that the economy will continue to grow, albeit at perhaps a slightly slower pace than in the recent past," said Frank Nothaft, vice president and chief economist at Freddie Mac. "Mortgage rates will most likely continue to rise with the expansion of the economy."
Five-year adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 5.48 percent, compared to 5.44 percent the previous week. There is no data available for a year-to-year comparison because Freddie Mac only began tracking the 5-year loans this year.
One-year adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 4.77 percent, up slightly from 4.68 percent the week before. At this time last year, the one-year loan averaged 4.08 percent.
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Mortgage fraud is flourishing in a hot home market -- read more here.
An industry trade group reports that mortgage applications are declining on high interest rates -- click here.
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