Advantages of fixing mortgage rate

There is a lot of talk in the media at the moment advising mortgage holders to opt for a fixed interest rate. The Sunday Business Post have advised to fix for 5 years upwards if possible. No reason is given for such a move. Are interest rates expected to rise dramatically over the next few years?
Any advice appreciated.
Thanks,
KON

The advice is based on their expectation that interest rates will rise to a rate greater than the current fixed rates on offer (approx 5% for 5-year fixed rate). The ECB has said that it intends to keep interest rates low for the short term (6-9 months). After that, they only way is up; it's only a matter of when, and my how much.

In addition, even if ECB keeps interest rates low, the banks need to make money and so are looking to raise rates for those on other than a tracker rate. This is evidenced by the recent increases by most of the Irish banks and many believe that these increases will be followed by more.

I have no advice as to what you should do but that's the reason that people are advising mortgage holders to fix.

a point worth remembering that if there is a chance you may wish to sell your home during the fixed period then you will incur a penalty interest charge.

It's a gamble to fix - which may or may not pay off.
The best 5 year fixed rate for most people is about 4%. Someone moving from a variable rate of say 2.75% will incur higher costs straight away and the switch may not result in any savings for possibly a year or even more.
Many lenders are not taking on new lenders anyway.

I rang the EBS this morning to see what rates they would offer me to fix my mortgate. I got 4.7% for 3 years and 5.3% for 5 years. On irishlinks post he had a link to a website showing the Ebs offering 4.2% for 5 years. Please excuse my ignorance but that am i missing? Will i get better than the 5.3% offered to me?

Those EBS rates (4.2) will be for new customers. Are you already with them? They all give better deals to new customers.

Thanks irishlinks, yes i'm with them already. So i suppose its just take what they offer you then is it???

As an existing customer, B of I have offered me:

2 year fixed @3.15
3 year fixed @3.60
5 year fixed @ 4.25

I'm torn between 3 and 5 years. any opinions? I've about 15 years to go.

@mattym - see recent article in the Indo about EBS fixed rates. The bottom line is that they don't publish fixed rates and the rate they offer you will vary depending on a number of things (like LTV, length of time as customer)