Yes, exactly. Fixed rates are basically insurance policies. When rates are rising rapidly like they are to day longer-term fixes seem obvious, almost free money

Yes, exactly. Fixed rates are basically insurance policies. When rates are rising rapidly like they are to day longer-term fixes seem obvious, almost free money. But the majority of the time they work against you because you're betting against a market that probably knows more than you as a retail mortgage borrower. That's not to say fix deals are always bad, it really just depends on circumstances. There's no free lunch here and those suggesting everyone should be taking 10 year fixes (where they're available) are suffering from recency bias. There's now a huge risk that those taking 10 year fixes will be locked into much higher rates should they come down over the next few years, which is very possible. That's just the UK market though. I believe in the US long-term fix rates make much more sense because you can refinance without incurring fees so if rates do drop you can just refinance.