Mortgage rates approached the 7% threshold Thursday, keeping potential buyers on the sidelines during a historically busy season for selling houses.

Mortgage rates ticked up slightly to 6.94% this week up from 6.90%, according to government-sponsored enterprise Freddie Mac.

Mortgage rates hit a peak of 7.79% in October and have been trending down since, according to Freddie Mac. The falling rates had pulled more shoppers back into the market, but increases over the last four weeks are pushing home buying back out of reach for many.

"The recent boomerang in rates has dampened already tentative homebuyer momentum as we approach the spring, a historically busy season for home buying," said Freddie Mac’s Chief Economist Sam Khater in a statement. “ While sales of newly built homes are trending in a positive direction, higher rates and elevated prices continue to pose affordability challenges that may leave potential homebuyers on the sidelines.”

According to a recent survey released by Realtor.com, nearly two-thirds of potential homebuyers said interest rates would need to fall for it to be feasible for them to buy. For almost a third of the survey respondents, mortgage rates would have to fall below 5% to consider buying a home.

An Investopedia analysis of daily changes in mortgage rates found rates fell Thursday but have been holding mostly steady in the broader trend for the past two weeks, echoing Freddie Mac's data.

High mortgage rates have historically pushed home prices down by reducing the number of people looking to buy a home. But recently, prices have continued to rise largely because there are fewer homes for sale. The “lock-in effect" has many homeowners avoiding putting their homes on the market because that would mean giving up an affordable fixed-rate mortgage they secured during the pandemic when rates hit record lows.