The mortgage market may have felt quieter this week, due to fewer high street banks making reductions, but as Moneyfactscompare.co.uk finance expert Rachel Springall points out there were many more mutuals cutting rates, some by significant margins.
The moves led to a weekly fall of just 0.01% to both the average two- and five-year fixed rates, now sat at 5.03% and 5.01%, respectively. However, the Moneyfacts Average Mortgage Rate remained unchanged at 5.05%.
The prominent brands to reduce selected fixed rates this week included Virgin Money by up to 0.15%, HSBC by up to 0.12% and TSB by up to 0.10%.
Building societies made a few rate moves this week, those to reduce rates included Cumberland Building Society by up to 0.50%, Leeds Building Society by up to 0.43%, Yorkshire Building Society by up to 0.41%, Saffron Building Society by up to 0.20%, Darlington Building Society by up to 0.20%, Skipton Building Society by up to 0.16%, Monmouthshire Building Society by up to 0.15%. Elsewhere, Principality Building Society increased rates by up to 0.22%, as did West Brom Building Society by up to 0.15%.
A few more lenders moved to cut fixed rates, such as with The Co-operative Bank for Intermediaries by up to 0.19%, Clydesdale Bank by up to 0.10% and Vida Homeloans by up to 0.31%. Elsewhere, Gen H increased by up to 0.10%.
Springall said one of the eye-catching deals to hit the market this week was a two-year fixed rate deal from Yorkshire Building Society, priced at 3.91% and available at 75% loan-to-value for house purchase customers, it includes a free valuation and charges a fee of £995.
She commented: “It is safe to say that mortgage rate cut activity has slowed among the high street banks but there have been some substantial rate cuts made by building societies this week.
The slowdown from the big banks has not come as too much surprise, as the two- and five-year swap rates have moved closer to 30-day highs over recent days. On top of this, let’s not forget the Bank of England Base Rate decision is in a couple of weeks’ time, so it would be understandable for some lenders refrain from making too many changes in the meantime.”
She added: “The good news is that rates are still on the downward trend, albeit slightly, but this should hopefully instil a sense of optimism among borrowers who want to refinance or buy their first home. Lenders have been scrambling to reduce minimum income requirements over the past couple of weeks, and this will hopefully boost first-time buyers, who remain the lifeblood of the mortgage market.”
