Research from Countrywide Mortgage Services based on the activities of almost 800 mortgage consultants found that six out of 10 mortgages in June were for three to five year fixed-rate deals.
The brokerage says this trend is likely to be reflected in July’s figures as well. Some 47% of Countrywide’s June applications were for three-year fixes, an increase of 8% from applications in May.
Loans at up to 85% LTV were the most popular during June, showing the strong demand for high LTV products.
The average interest rate amongst Countrywide’s top 10 most sourced products was 5.27%. Glenville Turner, chief executive at Countrywide, said: “As house prices appear to stabilise and attract new buyers to the market, there’s a changing mood among mortgage customers with many wanting to move up the property ladder and querying when they should fix their mortgage and how long for.
Homeowners and new purchasers are preparing themselves for a quick succession of interest rate rises and are locking themselves in before it is too late.”