Four of Britain’s biggest lenders have cut rates on their fixed mortgage deals, easing some of the pressure on hard-pressed homeowners.
Halifax, part of Lloyds Banking Group – the UK’s biggest mortgage lender – is reducing rates by up to 0.71 percentage points from Friday. That means a five-year fixed rate currently priced at 6.10% will be offered at a rate of 5.39%.
It also emerged that average rates on new two- and five-year fixed mortgages have fallen slightly.
Mortgage rates have risen rapidly as the Bank of England has pushed up interest rates in an attempt to tame inflation. Last week the Bank raised interest rates for the 14th consecutive time, bringing the base rate to 5.25%.
Relentlessly increasing housing costs have piled further pressure on Britons already struggling to cope with higher food and energy costs, but the cuts to rates – in some cases for the second time in a fortnight – will provide optimism that those costs may ease.
Moneyfacts, the financial data provider, said on Wednesday that the average rate on a new fixed-rate deal lasting for two years was now 6.83%, down from 6.84% on Tuesday. Meanwhile, the typical rate on a new five-year fix nudged down to 6.34% from 6.35%.
Halifax said on Wednesday that rates would be cut “across the range”, including deals aimed at homebuyers. HSBC is also cutting some of it fixed rates – it is understood by up to 0.35%.
The lender followed hard on the heels of Nationwide building society, which cut rates on its fixed mortgages by up to 0.55 percentage points with effect from Wednesday. Also on Wednesday, TSB cut its new fixed rates by up to 0.4 percentage points.
David Hollingworth, an associate director at broker L&C Mortgages, said: “This continues the trend of improvement in fixed mortgage rates which has emerged since the positive inflation data last month. That’s now helping to reverse the huge jump in fixed rates, albeit to a small degree.
“It’s good news and could see others follow as competition begins to heat up, but borrowers shouldn’t hold out for rates to snap back to where they were prior to the recent surge.”
Hollingworth said it would “take time,” but these improvements would at least help alleviate a little of the inevitable payment shock for those coming to the end of a super-low fix.
Chris Sykes, technical director at the broker Private Finance, said several other lenders had cut rates in the last few days, including a number of building societies.
“More lenders are likely to follow this trend, and we may even see further rate reductions from those lenders who have already lowered rates,” he added.
