How long to fix a mortage for at the moment?

[Daphnetheferret]

I am trying to weigh up the benefit of a longer fix against the higher rates on a longer fix. Rates are low at the moment but nobody knows what will happen as the economy tries to recover from the effects of Covid and then we face Brexit.

Looking for some views on what to do and how long to fix for. I like the idea of certainty so I am inclined to go for a longer fix.

How long are you likely to stay in this property?

Can you meet your mortgage payments comfortably?

Is there a penalty if you fix the mortgage for longer period and need to change/redeem early? If yes, how much is it?

We’ve just fixed for two years, mostly because we may need to move in 4 years or so and I don’t want the risk of a stiff repayment charge, so thinking 2 x 2 year fixes will suit us better than a 5 year. We will see if this works out wisest but in the short term it keeps our repayments low (which is a positive as I’ve just started mat leave).

We have no plans to move, it is possible but unlikely.

The payments should be reasonably affordable and there are plenty of other economies that could be made if things became tight but a big increase could be uncomfortable!

I would go for a five year fix. It might mean that you end up paying slightly more over the five years (or might well not!), but we always think that the certainly is worth a lot.

It could well be a bumpy ride ahead, so to know exactly what your outgoings are would be helpful imo.

I’d probably fix for 5 years to have the certainty for a bit longer. Probably wouldn’t go for a 10y fix as rates seem to jump up too much.

We have just fixed for 5 years. About to start building work, so definitely not moving in that time, and I felt going for a 2yr fix meant we would be needing to remortgage when the full impact of brexit/aftermath of covid would have hit. Who knows though?! We fixed for 5 years last time as I was convinced that rates would rise after the 2015 election and look at the shitshow that has happened since then!! Would have been far better off fixing for 2 and then remortgaging...

Yeah I think 2 years is likely to end in a time of quite a lot of financial uncertainty/difficulty. The quote I have had was based upon 5 years and the difference in rates didn't seem too much. I was wondering whether 10 years was worth considering as we seem to be at a historic low but there are probably too many unknowns over such a long period and it seems to be quite a jump in the rates compared to a 5 year fix.

We fixed for 5yrs in Feb and I’m glad we did, more so because of the stability of knowing what our payments will be despite Brexit, Covid etc. Also whilst we both have very secure jobs you just never know and remortgaging on one wage for instance would have been more difficult. Tbh I would regret fixing for 2 years then having problems remortgaging more than I would fixing for 5 years are thinking I could have got a better rate if that makes any sense.

We have fixed for 5 years. Figured that if we did end up moving (unlikely) then we could port the mortgage with us anyway. We've fixed at 1.4% for 5 years whereas a ten year was much much higher so not worth it.

I think it depends on what is likely to happen in the next five years - are you likely to move etc. for us two years was too soon and we hope at that point i'll be at maternity leave so be harder to get a mortgage so five years will see us through the early more expensive years.

@Zarara good points regarding re-mortgaging at the end of the term, as DH is self employed it makes sense to give ourselves plenty of time.

@Bells3032 yes the rates are much higher for 10 years otherwise I might have been more keen to do that.