Mortgage rates have been low for years. Consequently, it was advantageous to fix the interest rate over a long period of time, such as ten or even twenty years. This way, homebuyers were guaranteed years of low interest on their mortgage.
Mortgage interest rates have risen sharply since the beginning of this year: from 1 to 1.5 percent earlier this year to 3 to 5 percent now. As a result, fewer people want to fix their mortgage interest for a long time, because then they wouldn’t benefit if interest rates fall again.
DNB data show that in September mortgages were taken out for over 1 billion euros at variable or fixed rates for up to one year. This amount is 7% higher than in August and even 47% higher than in January this year. This while the amount of all mortgages combined decreased by 16% in that period.
Long-term interest rates have therefore become less popular with home buyers. In particular, fixing interest rates for more than ten years is less popular than before.
Although fixing mortgage interest rates for a long time is losing popularity, its share is still greater than short-term interest rates. But this difference is getting smaller and smaller.
