WASHINGTON — Rates on 30-year mortgages rose to the highest level in seven weeks, breaking above the 6 percent level.

Freddie Mac, the mortgage company, reported yesterday that 30-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 6.04 percent this week, up from 5.72 percent last week.

That is the highest level since the first week of the year, when the 30-year mortgage stood at 6.07 percent. For the next six weeks, the rate fell below the 6 percent level as financial markets reacted to the sharp slowdown in economic growth and growing risks of a recession by pushing interest rates lower.

However, increased worries about inflation have pushed long-term rates higher in the past two weeks.

One-year adjustable-rate mortgages are still about one-half percentage point lower than at the start of the year, reflecting the aggressive rate cuts engineered by the Federal Reserve in January in an effort to combat the economic slowdown.

In other rate moves this week, rates on 15-year mortgages, a popular choice for refinancing, edged up to 5.64 percent, compared to 5.25 percent last week. Rates on five-year adjustable-rate mortgages rose to 5.37 percent, up from 5.19 percent last week.