Over the past 12 months, fixed mortgage rates have more than doubled, after peaking at over six per cent in late September thanks to a fiscal event that still sends reverberations through the market.
With fixed mortgage rates averaging at around five per cent with a low of 4.65 per cent and amidst news of a potentially fraught economic background at least in the short term, people who are in the market to remortgage are wondering when the right time is to lock in their deal.
The answer will always depend on individual circumstances, as some people with expiring details will not have much of a choice but to lock in whatever deal they can.
For people with a little more flexibility, having at least six months of runway left to work with before they roll onto their provider’s standard variable rate, there are two diametrically opposed schools of thought.
The first is that it is not necessarily wise to fix a mortgage rate when there is a reasonable expectation that they will slowly go down again, and if you have enough time to wait it may be worth waiting or getting an agreement in principle but waiting before finalising it to see if rates reduce further.
The other aspect to consider is that whilst rates are reasonable, it is better to have the certainty of a fixed deal whilst waiting for greater clarity in the mortgage market.
Both are very reasonable points and ultimately highlight that the best barometer to see if a fixed-rate mortgage is worth it for you is how much that level of security is worth to you.
With living costs increasing, energy bills set to rise and other related costs potentially rising as well, fixing a mortgage may provide certainty, stability and security if there is another mortgage rate shock on the horizon.
As well as this, the Bank of England’s base rate has increased by over three per cent since the start of 2022, and this has a consequential effect on SVR and tracker rates.
For more information and advice on mortgages in Liverpool, get in touch today.