Grab some tapas and a San Miguel – as a little bit of the Continent is on its way. Long-term fixed mortgages at low rates are coming, with Avant Money disrupting the market with products that will have a set interest rate for up to 30 years.

This means your repayments will be the same on the day you make your first repayment until the last day of the mortgage. 

‘Fix and forget’ is what it is called. And it provides great certainty. No wonder these products are standard in the rest of Europe.

Irish mortgage holders, by contrast, are unusual for having an attachment to variable rates when borrowing to buy a home. The attractiveness in the past of cheaper trackers has much to do with that.

Banks are the big gainers when people opt for a variable rate, or even a fixed rate of three years, instead of fixing for 15 years or more.

A variable rate gives the bank complete control over the profit margin of the mortgage. When wholesale rates rise, they can just increase the variable rate to increase their profit margin, and the customer loses. 

And there is no need for the bank to consult the regulator.

But the market is changing, and changing radically.

These days, most new buyers and switchers are taking out fixed rates, but often for no more than three or five years. Longer-term mortgages are something we have left to our Continental cousins up to now.

Avant Money and its non-bank rival Finance Ireland are about to force us to reconsider our lack of enthusiasm for long-term fixed mortgage rates.

In May, Finance Ireland launched 20-year fixed mortgages with rates as low as 2.6pc. Avant has gone one better with fixed rates for between 15, 20, 25 and 30 years, and interest rates that are lower than many of the short-term rates on offer in this market. With the 20-year product, there is a rate of 2.45pc, not dissimilar to what is on offer in Spain.

These products are most likely to be taken up by switchers and movers, but will also appeal to first-time buyers with large deposits. And there is flexibility built into the products. 

What is needed now is for Irish people to get into fixed rates. If you sign up for one, you know what your repayments are going to be every month. So you can have a siesta and forget about it.