HSBC and Leeds Building Society are the latest lenders to announce rate cuts.

HSBC is lowering prices across its range tomorrow, however, it does not give brokers any advance warning of how much rates are reducing by.

Leeds Building Society is also dropping rates on a number of products tomorrow.

Again, the lender does not set out the scale of the reductions, however, its new product guide is already available on its intermediary website for brokers to check.

The reductions at Leeds come after it trimmed a number of other rates by up to 17 basis points today.

Nottingham Building Society yesterday announced it would also be cutting rates by up to 20 basis points tomorrow.

Santander, TSB and Atom are among the other lenders to lower rates this week.

John Charcol mortgage technical manager Nicholas Mendes says: “It’s another positive step, and probably the clearest sign yet that lender confidence is starting to come back.

“What gives this move a bit more weight is that HSBC is one of the major high street lenders.

“When a lender of that size starts repricing, it does tend to give the wider market a nudge and adds to the sense that this could help kick start further reductions from other big names over the coming days.

“That is especially encouraging after the volatility of the last few weeks, where lenders were far more focused on protecting margins and managing risk than competing hard on price.

“It is also a broader move, covering areas including first time buyer, home mover, remortgage and buy to let business, which makes it more meaningful than a small, isolated tweak to one corner of the range.”