The average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage was 5.01 percent this week, up from 4.98 percent last week. Last year at this time, the average rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage was 5.25 percent.

Rates fell to a record low of 4.71 percent set in early December. They've been held around 5 percent by a Federal Reserve program to pump $1.25 trillion into mortgage-backed securities to try to keep rates low and make home buying more affordable. That program is set to end March 31.

Freddie Mac collects mortgage rates on Monday through Wednesday of each week from lenders around the country. Rates often fluctuate significantly, even within a given day, often in line with long-term Treasury bonds.

The average rate on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages rose slightly to 4.40 percent from 4.39 percent last week, according to Freddie Mac.

Rates on five-year, adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 4.27 percent, up from 4.25 percent a week earlier. Rates on one-year, adjustable-rate mortgages dropped to 4.22 percent from 4.29 percent.

The rates do not include add-on fees known as points. The nationwide fee for loans in Freddie Mac's survey averaged 0.7 point for 30-year and 15-year mortgages. It averaged 0.6 point for five-year loans and 0.5 point for one-year loans.

Mortgage rates are near historic lows, and it's about to get harder to get a home loan.

The benchmark 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose 1 basis point, to 5.01 percent, according to the Bankrate.com national survey of large lenders. A basis point is one-hundredth of 1 percentage point. The mortgages in this week's survey had an average total of 0.39 discount and origination points. One year ago, the mortgage index was 5.92 percent; four weeks ago, it was 5.35 percent.

The benchmark 15-year fixed-rate mortgage fell 1 basis point, to 4.46 percent. That's the lowest in the 24-year history of Bankrate's weekly survey. The benchmark 5/1 adjustable-rate mortgage fell 2 basis points, to 4.52 percent. That's the lowest the 5/1 ARM rate has been since Bankrate started collecting rates on hybrid ARMs at the beginning of 2005.

Yesterday we saw a huge drop in treasury yields, over 3% on the 10 year yield. The 10 year yield now sits right on its 50 day moving average which is going to make next week very interesting. We are either going to see bounce off this average and we are going to move much higher or we are going to see a breakdown which could lead us all the way down to the 200 day moving average.

The ruling is a boon to the 137,670 taxpayers who, according to First American CoreLogic, a mortgage data firm, have mortgage balances above $1 million.

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) said its index of mortgage application volume fell 12.3% in the week ended Oct. 23 from the prior week. The drop in activity came as a popular tax credit for first-time homebuyers faced an uncertain future. The credit, which can be worth up to $8,000 for eligible buyers, is set to expire at the end of next month.

The MBA said refinancing applications also fell, by 16.2% from the previous week. The purchase index, a measure of applications at mortgage lenders, declined 5.2% last week.

Meanwhile, interest rates on the widely-used 30-year fixed mortgage eased to 5.04% from 5.07%, according to the MBA. The MBA report also showed the average rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages rose to 4.53% from 4.51%.

Rates for one-year adjustable rate mortgages, or ARMs, slid to 6.79% from 6.86%.

Government figures are expected to show Wednesday that sales of newly built homes rose at an annual rate of 440,000 units in September. That would be an increase of 2.6% versus the previous month.

On Tuesday, the S&P Case-Shiller home price index showed home prices rose for the fourth month in a row during August. Prices were down 11.3% versus August 2008, but that drop was less severe than the 11.9% year-over-year drop economists had forecast.