Freddie Mac recently released its Primary Mortgage Market Survey for the week ending January 26, which showed the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage average increased to 3.98.

A shade below 4 percent, which it hasn't surpassed in eight weeks, the 30-year FRM average was still significantly lower than the 4.8 percent it recorded this time last year. Meanwhile, the 15-year FRM average increased to 3.24 percent this week, up from 3.17 percent last week.

"Fixed mortgage rates ticked up this week as the housing market ended 2011 on a high note," said Frank Nothaft, vice president and chief economist at Freddie Mac. "New construction of one-family homes rose 4.4 percent in December to an annualized rate of 470,000, the most since April 2010. Existing home sales increased 5 percent at the end of the year to 4.61 million houses, the largest amount since May 2010."

However, homeowners have yet to fully take advantage of the ultra-low mortgage rates as the mortgage application volume continues to fluctuate. The Mortgage Bankers Association's Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending January 20 revealed volume dropped 5 percent compared with the week before.

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