Borrowers are increasingly backing a brighter outlook for the mortgage market, with a marked shift towards shorter-term fixed-rate products signalling renewed confidence that interest rates will fall.

New figures from mortgage technology platform Twenty7tec show that nearly half of all ESIS documents generated in May 2025 were for short-term fixes. Of the 1.92 million documents produced, 912,378 – or 47.7% – related to mortgages fixed for two years or less.

That figure represents a notable increase from 40.5% in October 2024 and just 22% in September 2022.

The trend reflects how borrower attitudes have evolved over the past three years, closely following movements in the base rate and wider economic signals. In late 2022, as interest rates began to rise sharply, most borrowers opted for long-term security, locking into three to 10-year fixed-rate products.

By December that year, short-term fixes had already climbed to 39.2% of market activity. By May 2023, they had reached 42.8%, as more borrowers began to anticipate the peak of the interest rate cycle.

This behaviour is now accelerating. The Bank of England’s decision to reduce the base rate to 4.25% in May – the first cut of 2025 – has reinforced expectations of further reductions later this year, prompting a growing number of buyers to seek short-term flexibility.

“These shifts in product choice reflect changing borrower needs,” said Nathan Reilly, director at Twenty7tec.

“In late 2022, many were looking for longer-term certainty as rates climbed. But by mid-2023, the mood had shifted – more borrowers were backing short-term fixes in the hope that rates would start to fall.”

Borrowers who previously locked into five or even 10-year deals during a period of market volatility are now willing to take a shorter-term view, betting on the likelihood of cheaper deals emerging within the next couple of years.

Reilly said this shift carries important implications for the advisory sector. “With more customers choosing shorter-term deals, brokers need to be prepared for more frequent refinancing conversations. Now’s the time to ask whether your CRM system is ready – is it helping you stay in regular contact, track the client journey effectively, and keep your pipeline visible?”

The company said its platform is designed to help advisers meet these challenges, with tools for real-time product sourcing, affordability calculations and lender criteria, all integrated with a centralised CRM system.

The technology, it added, allows brokers to respond rapidly to changing borrower requirements and shifting market sentiment.