Competitive mortgages 'are still available'
Published On 7 October 2007
The head of a leading mortgage lender has denied that interest rates are rising too sharply.Stephen Karle, chief executive of West Bromwich Building Society, told Channel 4's News at Noon programme that many lenders still offered competitive mortgage deals.
He explained: "I think there's a degree of concern out there that rates are going to race away for people because of decisions made by lenders. That's not the case.
"People who are on fixed rates at the moment are fearful they will be coming off onto base rates that are much, much higher than they have been paying for the last year or two. But in fact at the moment it looks like fixed rates will be about one per cent higher than they were a year ago."
"The market's still very well supplied, there are lots of us out there with products that are very attractive."
Figures from Halifax released earlier this week (October 4th) indicated that house prices dropped by 0.6 per cent in September and that the average cost of a home in the UK is now £198,500.
