Mortgage rates inched up slightly this week, according to the Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey.

30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 4.33 percent for the week ending Feb. 20, up from last week when it averaged 4.28 percent. A year ago at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 3.56 percent.

The 15-year FRM this week averaged 3.35 percent, up from last week when it averaged 3.33 percent. A year ago at this time, the 15-year FRM averaged 2.77 percent.

The five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) averaged 3.08 percent this week with an average 0.5 point, up from last week when it averaged 3.05 percent. A year ago, the five-year ARM averaged 2.64 percent.

One-year Treasury-indexed ARM averaged 2.57 percent this week with an average 0.3 point, up from last week when it averaged 2.55 percent. At this time last year, the one-year ARM averaged 2.65 percent.

"Mortgage rates crept up further following the uptick in the 10-year Treasury as minutes of the Federal Reserve’s last meeting indicated little possibility of a pause in the central bank’s reduction of bond purchases," Frank Nothaft, vice president and chief economist at Freddie Mac, said in a statement. "Housing starts in January fell 16 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 888,000 units, below consensus forecast. Permits were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 937,000 in January, also below consensus."