There were few lenders making rate changes this week, but despite the reduced activity, there were a couple of prominent brands tweaking rates.
And as Moneyfactscompare.co.uk finance expert Rachel Springall explains this movement led to a slight fall of 0.01% to the two- and five-year fixed rates, now 4.97% and 4.99%, respectively.
This is the first time the average five-year rate has dropped below 5% since May 2023.
The prominent brands to reduce selected fixed rates this week included Barclays by up to 0.25%, Santander by up to 0.07% and TSB by up to 0.05%.
Just a handful of building societies made rate moves this week, those to reduce rates included Skipton Building Society by up to 0.13% but also increased some rates by up to 0.06%, Principality Building Society by up to 0.18% but also increased by up to 0.25%.
In contrast, Hinckley & Rugby Building Society increased five-year fixed rates by up to 0.17%. There were also some new fixed deals launched by Nottingham Building Society, Progressive Building Society and Chorley Building Society.
Clydesdale Bank made fixed rate cuts of up to 0.51% to selected deals.
Springall says: “One of the eye-catching deals to hit the market this week was a two-year fixed rate deal from Santander, priced at 3.99% and available at 85% loan-to-value for second-time buyers, it includes a free valuation, £250 cashback and charges a product fee of £999. The deal is a great choice for those looking to secure a competitive mortgage package.”
Her general take on the week just gone, is that we have seen some prominent lenders act a bit more cautiously with their margins of cuts to fixed rates this week, no doubt a result of swap rate volatility.
“This shouldn’t discourage borrowers from seeking advice to secure a new deal though, particularly if they are sitting on a revert rate. It is however looking a lot less likely the market will see another Bank of England Base Rate before the year is over, and yet lenders will still have appetite to review rates as they near their end of year lending targets.”
Springall suggested there were other ways the mortgage market could be impacted before the year is out, depending on what might be revealed in the Autumn Budget.
“At the moment there are rumours circulating around a property tax on sale of a home worth more than £500,000 appear to be causing a stir.”
