HSBC will be decreasing rates across its residential and buy-to-let (BTL) rates, effective tomorrow.

The bank does not give advance details of the scale of increases, but Trinity Financial product and communications director Aaron Strutt predicts that “their best deals for those with larger deposits will almost certainly start with a four”.

Strutt says: “It looks like HSBC will be offering sub-5% fixes again from tomorrow which is another step in the right direction for mortgage pricing.”

He adds: “It has been an unusually quiet week in the mortgage market with very few changes from the big banks and building societies bringing some welcome stability.”

“With so much talk of base rate rises and the war in Iran dragging on it seems unlikely fixed rates will get a huge amount cheaper over the coming months, but the mortgage market is notoriously hard to predict.”

Also commenting, John Charcol mortgage technical manager Nick Mendes says the reductions from HSBC includes 60% to 90% LTV deals.

Mendes says it is a “welcome move” for the many borrowers coming off fixed rates this autumn.

He notes: “Recent reductions across the market have focused mainly on purchase business, so a lender of HSBC’s size improving remortgage pricing is a positive sign and should encourage others to follow.”

“Whatever the size of individual reductions, every cut from a major lender prompts competitors to review their own pricing, and that momentum is what brings rates down across the market.”

“These cuts are particularly encouraging because they come despite swap rates edging higher over the past month, with five-year swaps at 4.723% on 13 October compared with 4.619% a month earlier, and two-year swaps rising from 4.545% to 4.641% over the same period.”

“Lenders are sharpening their pricing even as funding costs have crept up, which shows a strong appetite to lend and a willingness to pass on savings to borrowers where they can.”