But many people have been badly burned on fixed-rate mortgages in the past by making a bad call on the interest rate cycle. If you fix too early, you will lose out if rates keep on falling. But if you leave it too late to fix, you will miss out when lenders begin to withdraw the best fixed offer as rates begin to climb again.

This was already happening before the European Central Bank began raising rates in December, unleashing the first interest hikes in more than five years. Fixed rates jumped again in the run-up to the last ECB increase at the beginning of March and are still rising in anticipation of more rate hikes to come.

The good news is that there are still some attractive deals to be had, with National Irish Bank leading the way. It is offering a rate of 3.6% fixed until 2008 or 3.89% fixed until 2009.

This is less than the 4% interest already being paid by many home owners on standard variable rate mortgages. So they would be quids in by fixing straight away with NIB, even if the anticipated ECB hikes of another 1% over the next 12 months fails to materialise.

Other lenders with good fixed-rate deals include Permanent TSB and Bank of Ireland, although they are available only to new customers.

The deals available at other banks and building societies are generally more expensive than their standard variable rate. So you have to be certain that interest rates are going to keep rising to justify the premium for a fixed rate.

Before signing up for a fixed-rate mortgage, you should bear in mind that it will cost you if you want to break out of the contract early. You will also be locked into a rigid schedule of payments that cannot change from month to month.

So if you plan to use an SSIA to pay down the mortgage, or to use the money that used to go towards SSIA contributions to increase your mortgage payments, than a fixed-rate loan is not for you.