Nationwide will increase selected fixed rates by as much as 0.35%, effective tomorrow (17 March).
This includes rates across its first-time buyer, home mover, existing customers moving home and remortgage products as well as its switcher and additional borrowing ranges.
The latest rate hikes from Nationwide mean its last sub-4% mortgage rates will be pulled from the market.
Elsewhere, Virgin Money will increase rates on purchase, remortgage, buy-to-let and product transfer products, also from tomorrow.
In the lender’s purchase range, two-year fixes will rise by 0.35%, five-year fixe will go up by 0.30% and 10-year fixes will be lifted by 0.25%. Shared ownership fixes will also increase by as much as 0.35%.
Remortgage two-year fixed will rise by 0.35, five-year fixes will be hiked by 0.30% and 75% LTV 10-year fixed fee-saver rates will be increased by 0.25%.
In addition, BTL two- and five-year fixed rates will be hiked by 0.35% and 0.30% respectively.
Virgin’s product transfer product rates will also be lifted. These include 65% and 75% LTV fixed rates, which will increase by 0.25%. Also, 80%, 85%, 90% and 95% LTV fixes will be lifted by 0.20%.
Two-, three- and five-year BTL product transfer fixed rates will rise by 0.35%, 0.35% and 0.30% respectively.
Earlier today, NatWest also announced it will be making rate increases on new business, existing and additional borrowing product ranges from 17 March.
Increases will be seen across, purchase, remortgage, first-time buyer, shared equity, help to buy – shared equity, green, green BTL and BTL and standalone additional borrowing.
Two- and five-year fixed rate purchase and remortgage products will increase by up to 35 basis points.
First-time buyer rates on two- and five-year fixed rate remortgage products will go up by as much as 0.35%.
BTL two- and five-year fixed rate purchase and remortgage products will rise by up to 0.35%.
Commenting on the latest market activity, Trinity Financial product and communications director Aaron Strutt says: “It looks like Nationwide is about to pull the last sub-4% mortgage rates from the market which is a shame because pricing had been heading down and there were some great rates to choose from.”
“While rates have clearly increased, they are not excessively expensive given that HSBC and Halifax have fixed rates priced just over 4% and the best five-year fixes are only a bit higher. Santander has been offering super-cheap sub-3.8% rates but they are being withdrawn today.”
“There are still lenders offering sub-4% tracker rates which are good for borrowers who like flexibility because they often do not have early repayment charges, plus they are cheaper than the best fixed rates at the moment.”
“We are still expecting more rate hikes this week as the cost of funding mortgages has gone up.”
Strutt explains: “Over the last few years, we have seen fixed rates increase and come back down and no doubt this will happen again. The difference this time is that the lenders still have their much-improved acceptance criteria and lots of income-stretch mortgages, but rather than Liz Truss reversing her mini-budget or the Covid pandemic coming under control, we need Donald Trump to have a good plan to bring a bit more stability back to the Middle East.”
“RBS has one sub-4% fix but I suspect that will go today along with NatWest’s remaining sub-4% rate.”
“The cheapest deals can often disappear overnight, which makes it important to act quickly if you need a mortgage. If you take too long to send your forms back to your broker or put off choosing a rate or delay checking the market, you could end up paying a significantly higher rate.”
“While there have been a lot of rate increases there are still some competitively priced mortgages to choose from. Nationwide’s rates will start from 4.20% which are reasonable but a fair but higher than before.”
“HSBC has a two-year fix from 4.01% and Barclays has two-year fixes from 4.10%. The best five-year fixes are priced just around 4.2%.”
