Fixed mortgage rates increased slightly this week but continued to hover near record lows, Freddie Mac reported Feb. 21 in its weekly Primary Mortgage Market Survey.

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage increased to 3.56 percent, up 0.03 percent from last week (down from 3.95 percent a year ago). The 15-year fixed-rate remained unchanged at 2.77 percent again this week (down from 3.19 percent a year ago).

The one-year adjustable-rate mortgage rose 0.04 percentage points to 2.65 percent (down from 2.73 percent a year ago). The five-year Treasury-indexed adjustable-rate held steady at 2.64 percent (down from 2.80 percent a year ago).

“Mortgage rates have been relatively stable, hovering near record lows, for the past four weeks which is helping to spur new home construction,” Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist, said in a news release. “For instance, new construction on single-family houses rose to an annualized rate of 613,000 in January, the most since July 2008. In addition, single-family building permits were up to the highest issuance level since June 2008.”

View Freddie Mac’s weekly Primary Mortgage Market Survey.