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Mortgage News

Home movers fix rates fearing fragile economy

vickyhartley
Written By:
Posted:
July 13, 2010
Updated:
July 13, 2010

The latest mortgage market figures indicate that 72% of all applications in June were for fixed mortgages as UK home movers worry about Bank of England base rate rises, according to mortgage advice and property group Countrywide.

The firm’s monthly poll of 700 mortgage advisers showed a massive shift in favour of fixed interest rate products, which have reached levels not seen since October 2009.

The split between fixed and tracker applications has jumped 19% since January 2010, with a 7% increase in the last month alone.

The figures suggest that home movers appear to be prepared to accept the higher interest rates that typically come with fixed rate mortgages.

Overall the average interest rates of Countrywide’s Top 10 mortgages in the first six months of 2010 was 4.62%, a 0.67% decrease from June 2009 when the average interest rate was 5.29%.

Remortgage customers are also opting for fixed rate products in 78% of mortgage applications, which is a 4% increase on the previous month and a 10% increase in Q2 2010 compared to Q1 2010.

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Grenville Turner, Countrywide’s group chief executive, said: “Despite the Bank of England’s best efforts to hold base rates at a record low of 0.5%, the mortgage market remains in an extremely fragile state. Overall mortgage approvals are up by 9%, which sends a strong signal to the industry and lenders have also increased the volume of products available by 193% compared to June 09, which provides some reassurance.

“The popularity of two year mortgages over longer-term products indicates that any nervousness over unemployment and government spending cuts is currently a short-term concern.”