Mortgage rates continued their upward climb this week, leaving demand essentially flat in the stagnant housing market.

Freddie Mac's latest Primary Mortgage Market Survey, released Thursday, showed that the average rate on the benchmark 30-year fixed mortgage surged to 6.72% from last week's reading of 6.54%. The average rate on a 30-year loan was 7.76% a year ago.

"Increasing for the fifth consecutive week, mortgage rates reached their highest level since the beginning of August," said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist. "With several potential inflection points happening over the next week, including the jobs report, the 2024 election, and the Federal Reserve interest rate decision, we can expect mortgage rates to remain volatile."

"Although uncertainty will remain, it does appear mortgage rates are cresting, and we do not expect them to reach the highs that we saw earlier this year," Khater added.

Many would-be buyers and sellers are holding out to see if rates fall further. Currently, about 80% of mortgage holders have a rate below 5%, according to a Zillow survey.

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The average rate on the 15-year fixed mortgage also rose to 5.99% from 5.71% last week. One year ago, the rate on the 15-year fixed note averaged 7.03%.