WASHINGTON — Mortgage rates dipped slightly this week as financial markets liked signals from the Federal Reserve that its string of interest rate hikes could be drawing to a close.

Mortgage giant Freddie Mac reported yesterday that rates on 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages averaged 6.30 percent this week, down slightly from 6.32 percent last week.

Rates on 30-year mortgages had hit 6.37 percent on Nov. 17, the highest level in more than two years. Analysts said even with the small declines in recent weeks, they expect the general trend will be for rates to move higher over the next year.

For that reason, they are forecasting that the housing sector, which has been cooling under the weight of rising rates, will slow further in coming months. The slowdown, however, won't be enough to stop sales of both existing and new homes from setting a fifth straight record in 2005, economists said.

The Fed on Tuesday announced it was hiking a key short-term rate for a 13th time but changed the wording of its announcement in a way that signaled to financial markets that the rate hikes could be drawing to a close. Many analysts believe there will be two more quarter-point moves in January and March of next year.

"When the Fed signaled that it's interest rate tightening may be coming to an end soon, the financial market breathed a sigh of relief and rates eased somewhat," said Frank Nothaft, chief economist at Freddie Mac.

Rates on 15-year, fixed-rate mortgages, a popular choice for refinancing a home mortgage, averaged 5.85 percent this week, down from 5.87 percent last week.

One-year adjustable rate mortgages dipped to 5.15 percent, down from 5.17 percent last week, while rates on five-year hybrid adjustable rate mortgages averaged 5.77 percent this week, down from 5.78 percent last week.

The nationwide averages for mortgage rates do not include add-on fees known as points. The one-year ARM carried a nationwide average fee of 0.6 point while all other mortgage categories carried an average fee of 0.5 point.

A year ago, 30-year mortgages averaged 5.68 percent, 15-year mortgages were at 5.11 percent and one-year ARMs averaged 4.18 percent.

Freddie Mac does not have historical data on the five-year ARM, which it began tracking this year.