Legal & General's latest ‘moving intentions’ survey shows that over half of UK homeowners still leave control over the day to day cost of their mortgages to external forces by still having variable rate mortgages.

However, in a mixed picture of home ownership, ‘moving intentions’ also shows that a similar number have taken steps to guarantee repayment of their home loans.

49 percent of homeowners questioned for Legal & General's long running poll said they pay a variable rate of interest for their mortgages, which can change immediately when base rates rise or fall. A further nine per cent said their mortgages are adjusted on an annual basis to take account of interest rate changes in the intervening period.

Only 37 per cent of homeowners had taken control of their homeownership costs and stabilised their budget with a fixed or capped rate mortgage.

However, while only just over one third have taken steps to control the cost of their mortgages, over half (54 per cent), have put arrangements in place to ensure their mortgages will be paid off. 46 per cent have repayment mortgages, which ensure the capital is paid off bit by bit over the term and another eight per cent are paying additional lump sums to reduce the balance of their loans.

Stephen Smith, Director Housing Marketing said:

"The first fixed rates were available to UK homebuyers in 1989. They have therefore become popular among British homeowners in a relatively short space of time.”

“However this popularity extends very much to shorter term products, up to five years in the main. It will be some time before the UK home-owning public is willing to lock themselves into long term rates, particularly 25 year rates."

"History tells us that it's big changes in interest rates that can precipitate problems for homeowners and whilst the outlook for rates is benign, fixed rates are one of the best ways of guarding against this."