Many of the UK's homeowners are adapting their mortgage arrangement in order to benefit as much as possible from the changing state of the housing market, it has been suggested.

According to a survey by the Spicerhaart Financial Services Company, there has been a "huge increase" in the number homeowners opting for a tracker-rate mortgage deal in recent months.

The popularity of tracker deals has been put down to the assumption among mortgage borrowers that if the base rate of interest is to be adjusted the change will be a reduction rather than an increase.

"In December, variable mortgages rose for the third consecutive month, accounting for over 27 per cent of all deals, an increase of over 350 per cent since December 2006," said Steve Cox, operations director of Spicerhaart Financial Services.

"It is highly unlikely that interest rates will rise this year, so people are choosing to capitalise on this and ride out 2008 rather than lock themselves into anything," he added.

Earlier this week, the Bank of England's interest rate-setting monetary policy committee announced its decision not to alter the base rate until February at the earliest.