Mortgage rates fell slightly this week, remaining stubbornly high while would-be buyers and sellers continue to wait for steeper declines.

Freddie Mac's latest Primary Mortgage Market Survey, released Thursday, showed that the average rate on the benchmark 30-year fixed mortgage ticked down to 6.95% from last week's reading of 6.96%. The average rate on a 30-year loan was 6.63% a year ago.

"The 30-year fixed-rate has hovered between 6% and 7% for most of the last two and a half years. That trend continued this week, with the average rate remaining essentially flat at 6.95%," said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist. "Driven by these higher rates and a persistent supply shortage, affordability hurdles still exist for many homebuyers and a significant number of them remain on the sidelines."

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The average rate on the 15-year fixed mortgage fell to 6.12% from 6.16% last week. One year ago, the rate on the 15-year fixed note averaged 5.94%.