It's a question I get asked on almost a daily basis and one that I wish I could give a definite answer to. But unfortunately I am not a psychic.

However, I do take careful note of economic data and market indications.

While I am not an economist, but rather a financial adviser, I do have a list of clients who over the last 12 to 18 months have allowed themselves to go on to the very competitive bank base rates and are watching and waiting for interest rates to start rising so they can look to jump on a fixed rate deal before they start to feel the pinch.

The worry for most homeowners is of course by the time that rates start to rise the banks will have expected and priced the rises in and there may be no good deals to be had. Most people I speak to feel that mortgage holders are quick to feel the rises but slow to feel the drops. And this is in my opinion because the banks spend a great deal of time and effort analysing data to see how they think rates will go and taking action accordingly.

While UK interest rates may not start to rise for a while yet I believe that mortgage holders are about to see rises in the rates that are available by way of new deals.

Why do I think rates are going to rise soon?

Well firstly the Bank of England's monetary policy committee take a vote each month after looking at economic data that the treasury present on whether they should amend the Bank of England rate. Well for quite some time they have been voting unanimously to either lower or maintain the historically low base rate. However in June 2010 one member of the committee Andrew Sentance voted for a rate rise, andhe did it again in July. It has been reported in the press that Andrew Sentance has been on Radio 4's moneybox program arguing that the country needs steady but regular rate rises.

Secondly, Inflation there is a fear that if rates remain low inflation will start to spiral out of control and to deal with that the bank of England would be likely to raise rates, to make consumers stop spending and bring down prices somewhat. Warren Buffet the legendary US investor has even warned that some governments including ours may deliberately stoke inflation to reduce the value of our money as quickly as they can. But why would they do that? Buffett thinks it's a very simple way of reducing the real size of government debt, as it becomes worth less in real terms it's easier to repay.

And thirdly on the 23rd of July interest rate futures became more expensive over short terms. You might never have heard of an interest rate future but basically it is a sophisticated financial instrument used by the markets to bet on future rate changes and try and hedge their institutions bets. As these became more expensive it means that the market is anticipating a rise in interest rates.

The strongest indication however for me is what I am seeing on the ground. This time last week I was looking for a specific fixed rate deal for a client with reasonable equity in his property.  I was able to find a rate that suited my client's needs. As I write this I thought I would see what I could get for the same client today, I can still get the same deal but I had 2-3 pages of similar deals available last week today I have but a handful.

Now there is no way on earth I can guarantee that interest rates are going to rise, I wish I could if I could predict what was going to happen I would be able to retire within a couple of months. But, what I believe absolutely is that if the Bank of England rate starts to rise then mortgage providers will have already started to price it in before you can get that deal you wanted.

So if your mortgage deal has expired or is about to expire, and you know that it would hurt to see your mortgage payments creeping up maybe you should give serious consideration to securing a fixed rate while good deals can still be found

If you would like to have a chat about your mortgage options you can call me on 0191 4066453 or email me by replying to this email (john@pwfs.co.uk) or clicking here.

For mortgages we can be paid by commission, or a fee usually £400

Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage