Demand for fixed-rate John Charcol mortgages 'rises'

Date:Wednesday 22nd April 2009
Author: Susanna Kavka

A UK mortgage lender has reported that it has seen a rise in the demand for its fixed-rate home loans.

According to figures released by John Charcol, eight out of ten new mortgage applications it received in March were for such products.

This compared with 29.1 per cent in December 2008, 47.8 per cent in January and 67.4 per cent in February.

Commenting on the statistics, Ray Boulger of John Charcol said: "The increase comes as a result of a combination of several factors, the most obvious being that with [the[ bank rate now at 0.5 per cent there is only one way for it to go."

He added that the "only questions" concerning the base rate are now when the Bank of England (BoE) will begin to raise it and how fast increases will occur.

Earlier this month, the BoE's Monetary Policy Committee voted to keep the base rate at 0.5 per cent following a series of falls over previous months.