British homeowners are shunning away from long-term fixed-rate mortgages despite the fact many lenders have been campaigning for the deals ahead of a possible rise in interest rates.
Latest figures by the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) suggest the amount of new mortgage business being lent at fixed-rates fell in January to just 26% - a drop of 21% in the past five months. The CML believes this comes as consumers opt for mortgages with average variable rate because they are cheaper than the long-term fixed-rate option. Average new rate for fixed-rate mortgages is currently around 4.68%, compared with the average variable rate, which now stands at 4.41%. In August last year, when the fixed-rate popularity peaked at 47%, the average fixed-rate was 0.35% lower than...
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