Halifax launches new fixed-rate deal
August 3, 2007 by admin
Filed under News, News-Mortgages
Mortgage provider Halifax made its new 25-year fixed-rate deal available today.
This represents a response from lenders to Gordon Brown’s call for long-term fixed-rate mortgages as a way of alleviating home buyers being priced out of the market. Halifax’s new deal will lock in the holder’s interest rate until 2032.
The provider will be counting on customers gambling on further interest rate rises, as its rate of 6.39 per cent is much higher than the majority of variable rate deals, which are in line with the current base rate of 5.75 per cent.
A spokesman for Halifax said that the new mortgage “means homeowners can balance the security of a fixed interest rate with a range of flexible features built into the product”.
The provider added that it hoped to “radically change the consumer’s view of longer-term products”.
The Bank of England decided today to leave the base rate as it is for this month.
It has risen five times since last August, however, and most industry analysts predict further rises before the year is out.
