The average long-term U.S. mortgage rate rose this week to its highest level in 10 weeks, a setback for prospective homebuyers ahead of the spring homebuying season.

The average rate on a 30-year mortgage rose to 6.77% from 6.64% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. A year ago, the rate averaged 6.32%.

Borrowing costs on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, popular with homeowners refinancing their home loans, also rose this week, pushing the average rate to 6.12% from 5.90% last week. A year ago it averaged 5.51%, Freddie Mac said.

“The economy has been performing well so far this year and rates may stay higher for longer, potentially slowing the spring homebuying season,” said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist.

So far this year, mortgage applications to buy a home are down in more than half of all states compared to a year earlier, noted Khater.

Jobless applications fall

Fewer Americans filed for jobless claims last week as the labor market continues to show resilience in the face of elevated interest rates intended to cool economic growth in the U.S.

Applications for unemployment benefits fell by 8,000 to 212,000 for the week ending Feb. 10, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

U.S. employers have delivered a stunning burst of hiring to begin 2024, adding 353,000 jobs in January in the latest sign of the economy’s continuing ability to shrug off the highest interest rates in two decades.

Last month’s job gain — roughly twice what economists had predicted — topped the December gain of 333,000, a figure that was revised sharply higher. The unemployment rate stayed at 3.7%, and has been below 4% for 24 straight months — two full years — the longest such streak since the 1960s.