There was a fall recorded in the popularity of fixed rate mortgages during the final quarter of 2009 as the threat of an increase in base rates eased, according to Paragon Mortgages.

Paragon’s Financial Adviser Confidence Tracking (FACT) Index showed that the proportion of fixed rate cases introduced by mortgage brokers fell from 62% in the third quarter to 46% in the final quarter of the year.

This was the second consecutive quarterly fall in fixed rate business, after two quarterly increases in the first half of the year.

Conversely, base rate tracker mortgages increased from 33% to 45% of all cases handled by brokers during the period. FACT, a panel-based survey of mortgage brokers, found that discount rate mortgages accounted for 6% of all cases, whilst capped rate and cashback only cases accounted for less than 3% of business between them.

John Heron , Paragon Mortgages’ managing director, said: “We saw the proportion of fixed rate cases rise substantially in both the first and second quarters of the year