Borrowers are more hesitant to take up fixe-rate deals, as lenders hike up their prices by an average 0.6%, while trackers rates, which have largely been avoided in recent months, are now being cut by around 0.3%. The conundrum has meant that, whereas 75% of borrowers had been taking fixed rates, the number has dropped this week to 64%, says broker Mortgageforce.  

Katie Tucker, technical manager for Mortgageforce, said: "Next week will be as confusing for borrowers; whilst a borrower's choice between a fixed rate and a tracker is largely based on how they expect Bank rate to behave in the next few years, when the price difference between the two is this significant, it’s difficult to resist the cheaper one.  
 
"A borrower with 20% deposit considering Nationwide’s new rates can have a two year fix at 6.28%, or a tracker at 5.23%.   That is a huge difference of 1.05%, which results in £114 pure interest to the monthly payment on a typical £130,000 mortgage."
 
Alliance and Leicester and Halifax have also cut their two-year tracker rates by up to 0.3%. Tucker explains: "The lenders have to keep their split between customers on fixed rates and tracker rates even, to mitigate the risk of their own wholesale costs rising; so they price their fixed and tracker deals to attract attention accordingly.
 
"My advice to people arranging mortgages this week comes down to affordability:  If you can afford the monthly payments on a fixed rate, but would not be able to afford more than that, a tracker would pose that risk, so consider the security of the fixed. These trackers may start low, but you must be sure that you could afford the payments if they did rise."   

Compare fixed and tracker deals here

---

Tag this article :