WASHINGTON — Rates on 30-year mortgages rose this week to the highest level in five weeks.

The mortgage company Freddie Mac reported yesterday that 30-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 6.40 percent last week. That was up from 6.36 percent last week and the highest since they also hit 6.40 percent the week of Sept. 21.

All categories of mortgages showed slight increases for the week, a fact that some analysts attributed to inflation concerns expressed by Federal Reserve officials.

The Fed on Wednesday left interest rates unchanged for a third straight meeting, after having raised rates 17 consecutive times over two years.

Analysts said any rate cuts are still months away because the Fed is worried inflation is too high.

Frank Nothaft, chief economist at Freddie Mac, noted that the slowdown in housing caused the median price of both new and existing homes to post rare declines in September.

"Some areas of the country may experience a few bumps up and down as the housing industry corrects itself in the coming months," he said.

Rates on 15-year, fixed-rate mortgages, a popular choice for refinancing, averaged 6.10 percent this week, up from 6.06 percent last week.

Rates on one-year adjustable rate mortgages edged up to 5.60 percent, compared to 5.57 percent last week.

Rates on five-year adjustable rate mortgages rose to 6.14 percent, up from last week's 6.11 percent.

The mortgage rates do not include add-on fees known as points. The 30-year and 15-year mortgages each carried an average nationwide fee of 0.4 point. The one-year ARM had a nationwide average fee of 0.7 point and the five-year ARM had an average fee of 0.6 point.

A year ago, 30-year mortgages averaged 6.15 percent, 15-year mortgages stood at 5.69 percent, one-year ARMs were at 4.91 percent and the five-year ARMs were at 5.63 percent.