Spotlight On: Yorkshire BS's fixed rate mortgages

The deal

Yorkshire building society has cut the cost of two-year and five-year fixed rate mortgages to 2.59 per cent and 3.49 per cent.

The good points

Cutting the cost of borrowing is good news if you're happy to fix now. There are also higher rate options (2.79 per cent and 3.69 per cent) with a much lower £95 fee (instead of the £995 fee on the best rates) plus £250 cashback.

The bad points

The £995 upfront fee is still too high. Also, first-timers need not bother – to get any of the deals you'll need a deposit of at least 25 per cent of the value of the property.

Conclusion

The fixed rate mortgage market seems to be getting more interesting but the question to ask is whether now is a good time to fix. The base rate has remained at a record low of 0.5 per cent for 28 months now and some experts are predicting it may not rise until 2014. Choosing a lower-rate base rate tracker could therefore be a good option. Both First Direct and Chelsea BS offer deals at 1.99 per cent.