Over half of Britons would definitely not take out a 25-year fixed-rate mortgage, with one of their main reasons being that they didn’t want to commit themselves for a long period of time.

Sue Hayes, director of Abbey Mortgages, which carried out the research, said: “It’s clear that people don’t have much of an appetite for 25-year mortgages.

“We continue to see increasingly strong demand for five and ten-year fixed deals, indicating that 25 years is just a step too far.”

More than a quarter (27%) of people said that committing themselves to a 25-year deal could potentially cause future financial difficulty, while 18% felt that they might lose money if interest rates fell.

Those who would definitely take out a 25-year mortgage said that they were attracted by the prospect of knowing their up front payments in advance, while 48% thought that long-term deals were appealing because of rising interest rates.

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Sue Hayes said: “Given the great cultural and economic changes we’ve seen in the past 25 years, it’s not surprising that as many people are not going for long-term mortgages. Few people are prepared to commit themselves for a quarter of a century.”