Interest rates on long-term home loans rose this week. The rate on the benchmark 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage hit the highest level since May 2017.

Mortgage giant Freddie Mac says the 30-year rate rose to 4.04 percent this week from 3.99 percent last week. The rate on 15-year, fixed-rate mortgages, popular with homeowners who are refinancing, rose to 3.49 percent from 3.44 percent.

"Inflation is firming ... This means upward pressure on long-term rates, like the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, is building," Len Kiefer, Freddie Mac's deputy chief economist, says in a statement. He cites a Federal Reserve report out Wednesday showing that employers in more industries were under pressure to give workers pay raises.

The rate on five-year adjustable-rate mortgages was unchanged this week at 3.46 percent.