Mortgage rates have been hovering at or near their current level for a few months now, after starting the year slightly higher. And it seems that they were stubbornly stuck in place even this week, which could continue to give consumers more options for finding high affordability on their home loans.

There was a slight uptick in average mortgage rates in the week ending Sept. 11, but the fact is that it won't be big enough to make much of a difference to consumers' bottom lines when they try to buy a home, according to the latest Primary Mortgage Market Survey from the government-sponsored home loan-backing giant Freddie Mac. For instance, the ever-popular 30-year fixed mortgage – used mainly by consumers who are buying houses – only rose to 4.12 percent from the previous week's 4.1 percent. In comparison with the 4.57 percent seen in the same week last year (as well as in comparison with historical norms), that still offers significant savings.

And that kind of small increase was what other borrowers could expect as well, the report said. The average rate for a 15-year FRM favored by those seeking to refinance their existing mortgages came in at 3.26 percent this week, up from 3.24 percent, but still down appreciably from the 3.59 percent seen a year earlier.

Adjustable-rate home loans a little more mixed
The increase of two basis points seen for the two most popular fixed-rate mortgage products was also evident for five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable home loans, which rose to 2.99 percent from 2.97 percent, but was still well below the 3.22 percent a year ago, the report said. Meanwhile, one-year Treasury-indexed ARMs ticked up even more appreciably, to 2.45 percent from 2.4 percent. However, that, too, was down from 2.67 percent at the same time in 2013.

"Mortgage rates were up slightly this week, following the increase in 10-year Treasury yields, despite last week's disappointing employment report," said Frank Nothaft, vice president and chief economist at Freddie Mac. "The U.S. economy added only 142,000 jobs in August, after a 212,000 gain in July and a 267,000 increase in June. The unemployment rate fell to 6.1 percent in August from 6.2 percent the previous month."

Consumers may still be wary that mortgage costs are too high, having grown accustomed to those in the 3 percent range a few years ago. However, because rates could start to rise more sharply within the next few months, locking in affordability soon might be wise.