The Society has received double the number of applicants it originally expected when the product was launched in April this year, demonstrating that borrowers are keen to secure their payment costs longer term.
Nobody really knows what the future might hold. One aspect that homeowners can guarantee is how much their mortgage payments will be for the next 10 years. This is because Nationwide says it offers the lowest 10 year fixed rate on the high street at just 4.89%. Customers who take this rate now, know that their mortgage payments will remain unchanged until 2015. For example, a £100,000 repayment loan for 25 years would cost £578 per month during the deal period.
Typically borrowers fix their mortgage rate to protect against rate fluctuations, for example, in the last 10 years the Bank of England base rate has changed 36 times. In addition, borrowers who like fixed rates, appreciate the stability of knowing how much they will have to pay every month. Those who are attracted to the longer term fixed rates, such as 10 year deals, avoid regularly shopping around for a new deal.
As well as being able to predict what mortgage payments will be until 2015, the following events are due to take place in that year:
- The world’s population is predicted to have increased from six billion to 7.2 billion;
- Assuming a successful launch in January 2006, NASA’s New Horizons space probe is scheduled to fly by Pluto in July 2015;
- One of the Royal Navy’s new aircraft carriers will enter service, possibly called HMS Prince of Wales.
Nationwide’s marketing director, Steve Clode said: “We launched our very low 10 year fixed rate mortgage on 1 April 2005 and have been delighted at the take up. In fact, we have had twice as many applicants for this mortgage as originally anticipated. People who take out fixed rates like the certainty of knowing how much they will be paying each month and increasingly people are realising that they don’t want to keep remortgaging every couple of years.”
