The interest rate on a fixed mortgage does not change until the deal expires, usually after two or five years, and a new one is chosen to replace it. Doing nothing would leave people on a variable rate, which is very expensive.
About 1.6 million existing borrowers have relatively cheap fixed-rate deals expiring this year, so need to make their minds up.
Many may have expected rates on new deals to fall consistently this year, following previous upheaval.
Although the year started with some sharp drops, this subsequently stabilised and recently rates have been inching back up again.
For example, Nationwide – the UK’s biggest building society – will increase rates on deals by up to 0.25 percentage points on Tuesday.
The average rate on a two-year fixed deal is now 5.87%, according to the financial information service Moneyfacts. That is still about a percentage point lower than last year’s peak.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3g5jrl9yg4o,
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