Will Borrowers Stick with Tracker Mortgages,? asks North London Mortgage Broker, London Mortgage Adv Friday, 22nd January 2010

According to research from Abbey for Intermediaries (AfI),people coming to the end of their deals in the next six months are increasingly disinclined to choose trackers due to expectations of rate rises this year.

Compared to 33% just two months ago,
research released this week from the lender shows that only 13% of homeowners due to remortgage in the next six months will opt for a tracker.

Increasing from 20% to 23% over the last month, those likely to opt for a fixed-rate deal has gone up. Half of these people favour a two year fixed-rate product rather than a three or a five year deal.

"Borrowers have seen a large number of highly competitive fixed-rate deals come on to the market recently and with many commentators predicting a base rate rise this year, homeowners now seem more inclined to play it safe with a fixed rate deal." Ricky Okey, managing director of AfI, explained.

Equating to some 4,848 potential remortgages each day over the next six months, of which 31% said that they would seek advice from a mortgage broker or IFA, research showed that over 880,000 UK homeowners on tracker or fixed-rate mortgages, could be looking to remortgage in the next six months.Over half (51%) of homeowners who will be remortgaging in the next six months say the opportunity to take advantage of a good rate is the factor that will most influence their decision on which deal to take.

This shows that there is still a significant amount of business in the market and that consumer confidence in the advice received from intermediaries remains high.