CML finds fixed rate deals most popular |
The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has released results for April this year that show fixed rate deals accounting for 71% of all loans for house purchase and remortgaging - 17% more than April 2005. It says fixed rate deals are currently popular due to attractive deals offered by lenders, and consumer's desire to lock in to long-term low rate deals.
The CML also showed that first-time buyers are now borrowed higher multiples of their salaries to get on the property ladder, with an average multiple of 3.21 - up from 3.15 in March. However, it also found that mortgage payments as a proportion of income had actually fallen from 17% in June 2005 to 16.2% now.
CML Director General Michael Coogan said: “Today’s data confirms that the market is in good shape. The strong take-up of fixed-rate deals is encouraging because they give consumers confidence in their mortgage payments and allow them to plan ahead financially.
“It is also interesting to see that while both first-time buyers and movers are borrowing a greater multiple of their income to get a mortgage, their payments as a proportion of income are lower than in the same period last year. This is potentially due to the higher take-up of attractive fixed-rate products over the past year.”