Paragon’s Financial Advisor Confidence Tracker research, a panel survey of mortgage intermediaries, found that 70% of cases submitted by mortgage brokers in the three months to the end of June were for fixed rate deals. This is the highest level since the FACT survey was launched in 1996 and up from 55% in the first quarter of the year and 41% in the final quarter of 2008.
Conversely, the proportion of base rate tracker mortgages being introduced has fallen over the period, which could be the result of lenders withdrawing or re-pricing tracker mortgages as the Bank of England slashed interest rates between December 2008 and March 2009. Tracker mortgages fell from 41% to 26% of cases introduced between the first and second quarters of the year.
Of the fixed rate mortgages, two-year terms remained the most popular with four out of 10 borrowers opting for this period, followed by three-year fixes (32%), five-year (24%), 10-year (2.5%) and one-year (1.5%) deals.
John Heron , Paragon Mortgages’ managing director, said: “With borrowers unsure about the next move for interest rates