Borrowers want security of fixed-rates

A large number of homeowners would switch to a fixed-rate mortgage deal if they had to swap.

Research by Abbey shows that one-in-three borrowers would rather be on a fixed-rate deal for five or more years.

The most common reason for this is that most people want to know exactly how much money is leaving their account each month.

Second to this however, was a fear that interest rates will rise in the coming years.

"For most of us our mortgage is the biggest financial commitment we make so it's understandable that we want to know just how much we're going to have to fork out each month," commented Nici Audhlam-Gardiner from Abbey.

"You never know what's going to happen in the future, but at least if you've committed to a long-term fixed deal, you know where you are going to stand with your repayments," she continued.

Fears over rising interest rates appear to be unfounded, with the majority of analysts predicting that rates will fall early in 2008.

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