Santander, Virgin Money and Barclays have all slashed deals for first-time buyers, property owners moving home and households remortgaging.
The news comes after several UK banks upped rates at the end of November, with the last of the sub-4% rates disappearing, which occurred despite the Bank of England opting to cut the base rate to 4.75% at the start of November.
The hike was due to lenders facing higher cost, in the opinion of David Hollingworth, associate director of L&C Mortgages.
A month on, the average two-year fixed residential mortgage rate today is 5.47% and the five-year equivalent is 5.25%, according to Moneyfacts data.
Here’s a round-up of the latest cuts from major lenders.
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Barclays
Earlier this week, Barclays made cuts to its residential mortgage rates across multiple ranges.
The bank cut its residential purchase and remortgage five-year fixed rates by up to 0.14%.
Highlights from the mortgage rate cuts for purchase borrowers include the bank’s fee-free deal at 60% loan to value (LTV), which fell from 4.34% to 4.2%, and the £899 arrangement fee alternative, which reduced from 4.18% to 4.11%.
For remortgage borrowers with 25% equity paying a £999 fee, the rate was cut from 4.3% to 4.25%. The Great Escape edition, also at 75% LTV, was reduced from 4.42% to 4.33%.
Santander has made reductions across 70 mortgage products for residential purchase and remortgage up to 0.23%.
Rates on its new-build exclusive, green remortgage and buy-to-let (BTL) products have also been lowered by up to 0.16%.
Further, £250 cashback has been added to all residential mortgages at 85% LTV and above.
Across its purchase products, a two-year fix at 60% LTV with a £999 fee was lowered by 0.11% to 4.21%, while the equivalent at 85% LTV now has £250 cashback and has gone down from 4.76% to 4.69%.
Its fee-free five-year fixed purchase product at 95% LTV has £250 cashback and comes with a cut of 0.12% to 5.29%.
The lender also slashed its three-year fixed remortgage rate by 0.05% to 4.26% at 60% LTV with a £999 fee. The corresponding product at 75% LTV has gone down from 4.53% to 4.3%.
Virgin Money
The third lender to lower its rates was Virgin Money, which cut mortgage rates alongside extending its Green Reward deadline.
It also made a series of rate reductions to its residential products.
Across its purchase deals with a £995 fee, the two-year fix at 65% LTV was reduced by 0.16% to 4.37%, while the option at 75% LTV dropped by 0.1% to 4.43%. At 85% LTV, there was a 0.22% cut to 4.75%, and at 90% LTV, a 0.05% reduction to 5.08%.
For five-year fixes in this range, the 65% LTV deal nudged down by 0.05% to 4.24%, and the 75% LTV product cut by the same amount to 4.29%. The option at 85% LTV was reduced by 0.21% to 4.43%.
Meanwhile, its fee-free purchase deals up to 95% LTV, fixed for two or five years, were lowered by as much as 0.19%.
