Variable rate demand up despite rate rises

The Spicerhaart Financial Services monthly mortgage survey revealed fixed rate products remained the most popular, but variable mortgages increased from 9% to 14%, the highest share of deals since October 2006. Within variable deals, 11% chose base rate tracked mortgages, while 1.7% choose discount deals and 1.3% opted for other variable rates. “The increasing proportion of variable mortgages indicates that borrowers are starting to believe that interest rates have finally peaked, as inflation stabilises, and are likely to come back down again before the end of the year,” Spicerhaart ope...