Average two-year fixed rates fell by 2 basis points over the past week to 4.85%, while three and five-year averages both dipped by 1bp to 4.75% and 4.91% respectively.

While the weekly figures from Moneyfacts show only minor changes to the overall averages across all loan-to-value bands, there were some bigger movements in certain tiers.

For example, average two-year fixed rates at 65% LTV came down by 7bps over the week, but remain more expensive than higher LTV tiers.

This suggests it may be a category in which product numbers are limited and therefore moves by individual lenders can have a big impact on the averages.

Similarly, average five-year fixed rates at 100% LTV also dropped by 7bps to 5.49%, but again this is likely to be a category with few product options.

A number of lenders have lowered rates this week, but there have also been some price increases.

Smaller building societies were among those to make the sharpest reductions, including Buckinghamshire by up to 36bps and Bath, Dudley, Scottish, which all made cuts of up to 30bps.

Of the mainstream lenders, First Direct made the most substantial cuts of up to 35bps, followed by Nationwide with reductions of up to 21bps and then Natwest, Royal Bank of Scotland and TSB  by up to 20bps.

Barclays reduced some rates and increased others by up to 18 bps, while other lenders to reprice both ways included Accord, Yorkshire Building Society, Skipton and Bank of Ireland.

Moneyfactscompare.co.uk finance expert Rachel Springall says: “There was a positive momentum in the mortgage market this week, with double the number of lenders making rate tweaks compared to a week prior. 

“As swap rates have been moving in a downwards trajectory, alongside expectations for a Bank of England base rate cut this month, it’s perhaps no surprise to see so many lenders improving their prices. 

“This is brilliant news for borrowers, particularly those who locked into a cheap rate five-years ago and soon need to remortgage.”

She adds: “Nationwide moved to make further reductions this week, including its two-year fixed now priced at 3.58% for two years, which is one of the lowest fixed rates across the whole mortgage market. 

“The leading fixed rate is held by Santander for another week at 3.55% for two years.

“As lenders fight it out to entice new business, it will be interesting to see what further tweaks are made in the run up to the Bank of England base rate decision in a couple of weeks’ time.”