Spotlight on: Halifax's 7 year fixed mortgage

The deal

Halifax has extended its seven-year mortgage deal to all NewBuy customers.

Good points

There's no product fee, no mortgage account fee, plus borrowers will get £500 cashback. You need just a 5 per cent deposit, which could help first-time buyers.

Bad points

The fixed rate of 5.89 per cent is higher than many shorter-term deals. Fixing for seven years can be a risk. If rates remain low over that time, you could end up paying much more for your mortgage than you need to.

Conclusion

The NewBuy scheme is a government initiative aimed at encouraging people to buy new build homes by offering lenders guarantees, so that they can lend up to 95 per cent of the value of a new property. There are pros and cons to buying a new build, so you should find out as much as you can about what you're taking on before signing up.