The time a mortgage remains on the market has sunk to its shortest period in at least a decade at just 17 days.
Home owners are pouncing on the best fixed-rate mortgage deals to help protect against rising interest rates, according to Moneyfacts.co.uk.
The number of mortgages available has also fallen, with 149 fewer deals on the market than in July.
This comes as the made the largest rate jump since 1995, raising the base interest rate from 1.25% to 1.75%.
The Bank of England has increased interest rates from 1.25 per cent to 1.75 per cent
The rise could add about £1,400 on to a homeowner’s mortgage payments over the next two years, based on a £200,000 mortgage being paid back over 25 years.
Eleanor Williams, a finance expert at Moneyfacts.co.uk, said: ‘Not only are there now fewer deals for borrowers to choose from, but the average shelf life for mortgage deals has plummeted to a new low of just 17 days this month.
‘Would-be borrowers will also note that the rates on offer are continuing to climb.
‘The average, overall, five-year, fixed-rate mortgage has breached 4% for the first time in nearly eight years, reaching 4.08% this month, a high not seen since October 2014 when it was 4.08%.’
The findings were released by financial technology firm Twenty7Tec, who also said that it had observed the availability of mortgages continuing to fall in July.
James Tucker, founder and Tax Consultant CEO of Twenty7Tec said: ‘So far this year, we’ve seen 10.5 million mortgage searches on the platform.
‘That’s a month quicker than we hit the 10 million search milestone in 2021.
‘We’re predicting that 2022 will surpass 2020’s total mortgage search volumes by the middle of September.
‘Bearing in mind how busy 2020 was, that’s quite an achievement.’
He added: ‘Product availability is probably one of the key metrics this month.We’re now operating at around three-quarters of the pre-pandemic highs – down for the fourth month on the trot.
‘We’ve also seen a much greater concentration towards fixed mortgages.’
<div class="art-ins mol-factbox news" data-version="2" id="mol-6900e570-1712-11ed-8397-595990823f80" website mortgage is available for 17 days and there are fewer deals