The US housing market has had a tough year. Heres what could save it | Money [Video]

Washington (CNN) — America’s housing market is finishing a year of high prices, sluggish sales and elevated mortgage rates. But there are factors that could give it a boost next year.

The Federal Reserve began to slash interest rates in September, but mortgage rates have actually risen since then.

The average rate on a standard 30-year fixed mortgage was 6.72% this week, Freddie Mac said Thursday, up from last week’s 6.6%. Mortgage rates are expected to stay stuck above 6% over the next two years.

Instead, the housing market’s saving graces could come down to two things: continued job growth, and more homeowners finally giving up their locked-in low mortgage rates and putting their homes up for sale.

“Jobs and inventory will drive home sales,” Lawrence Yun, chief economist at the National Association of Realtors (NAR), said in an analyst note Wednesday after the Fed delivered its third consecutive interest rate cut.

On a call with reporters Thursday, Yun said that “the lock-in effect is becoming less strong,” …