The U. S. Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. said on Thursday that average interest rates for long-term fixed-rate mortgages rose slightly in the week ending June 17.

Interest rates for 30-year contracts rose to 4.75 percent with an average of 0.7 points, up from last week's rate of 4.72 percent, Freddie Mac has said.

A year ago, 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages averaged 5.38 percent.

It has also been reported that average interest rates for 15-year, fixed-rate mortgages rose to 4.2 percent from last week's average of 4.17 percent. Points for 15-year mortgages also averaged 0.7 during the week.

A year ago, interest rates on 15-year mortgages averaged 4.89 percent.

Freddie Mac Chief Economist Frank Nothaft, said, "Mortgage rates were little changed this week amid preliminary signs that the expiration of the homebuyer tax credit in April may have led to a slowdown in new construction."

He said in a statement, "Starts on single-family homes fell 17 percent to an annualized pace of 468,000 units in May from April's 20-month high." (With Inputs from Agencies)