Despite price withdrawals and planned rises making the headlines this week, rates on select fixed rates continued to fall, albeit marginally.

According to Moneyfacts latest figures, the average two-year fix fell 0.2%. However, average 3-, 5- and 10-year fixes were unchanged from last week.

Brands that did make prominent reductions to fixed rates this week included Barclays Mortgage by up to 0.50%, Virgin Money by up to 0.20% and TSB by up to 0.10%.

However, Santander was among the lenders to withdraw some of its low-rate five- fixed deals from sale.

Among the building societies to reduce rates were Newcastle Building Society by up to 0.95%, Progressive Building Society by up to 0.41%, Leek Building Society by up to 0.35% West Brom Building Society by up to 0.25%, Furness Building Society by up to 0.20%, Chorley Building Society by up to 0.20% and Principality Building Society by up to 0.11%.

In contrast to the rate cuts, Coventry Building Society increased selected rates by up to 0.25%.

Moneyfacts finance expert Rachel Springall says: “The mortgage market has seen positive moves over the past few months, but over recent days we have seen a rise to swap rates.

“The uncertainties surrounding future interest rates, such as mixed messages from Bank of England regarding base rate, combined with wider economic uncertainties have their parts to play in lenders pricing decisions.

“Fixed mortgage rates typically follow swaps relatively closely, so any volatility can be an indicator on where rates will go next, but it may be a little too soon to tell how this could impact the market overall.

“However, each lender will have their own end of year targets to consider and could choose to hold steadfast if they are not priced too low in the present market. It is also worth noting that any knee-jerk changes in reaction to rising swaps could be just that, and not reflect the path over the next few months. Borrowers should act calm and get some independent advice to assess the deals currently available to them.”