Fixed and variable mortgage rates are on the rise, analysis finds

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Fixed mortgage rates generally are on the increase, as well as some variable deals which directly track the Bank of England base rate, analysis has found.

The Bank of England base rate increased 0.15 percentage points in December 2021, taking it to 0.25%.

Financial information website Moneyfacts found the overall average rate for term tracker mortgages has increased in line with this uplift, rising from 3.38% in December to 3.53% this month.

Some homeowners on variable rates may be considering locking into a new fixed deal to give themselves some certainty over their future outgoings, particularly as other household bills such as energy are surging.

Moneyfacts said that for the third month in a row, the average two and five-year fixed mortgage rates on the market have generally increased.

The average two-year fixed deal increased from 2.34% in December 2021 to 2.38% in January 2022.

And the average five-year fixed rate increased from 2.64% in December 2021 to 2.66% in January 2022.

Mortgages at most deposit sizes are fuelling the rate increases – but there is some better news for first-time buyers, who tend to have smaller deposits.

Moneyfacts found that average two and five-year fixed-rate mortgages for borrowers with 5% deposits bucked the overall trend, and have been falling for nine months in a row.

At 3.06% and 3.33% respectively, the current average rates in this bracket are the lowest on Moneyfacts’ records.

Eleanor Williams, a finance expert at Moneyfacts, cautioned: “With the potential for the Bank of England to apply further increases to the base rate in the coming months, there is no guarantee that the cost of borrowing on mortgages will not continue to rise overall.

“As the threat of rising inflation and potential for the cost of living to continue to rise and squeeze household budgets even more, there may be borrowers prompted to act sooner than perhaps they might have planned to in considering securing a new mortgage deal.”