HSBC has become the latest major lender to cut rates, announcing a new range of offers across hundreds of residential and landlord deals. This follows on from Barclays, NatWest and Co-op reducing rates across selected ranges, with more lenders expected to follow suit.
Starting today, the high street bank has introduced a host of new deals across two-, three- and five-year terms, at a variety of ratio values for both existing and new customers.
A HSBC spokesperson says: “We are firmly focused on helping customers onto or up the property ladder.
“There are a number of factors that are taken into account when setting mortgage rates, and following a review, we are reducing over 300 mortgage rates across our residential and buy-to-let mortgage ranges, from tomorrow.”
At the start of the week, Barclays announced rate cuts of up to 31 basis points for buyers, while Co-op reduced loans by up to 0.22 percentage points and NatWest lowered fixed-rate deals by up to 0.17 percentage points last week.
The Bank of England also held interest rates at 5.25% for the seventh time in a row, despite inflation falling to its 2% target a short time before.
John Charcol, Mortgage Technical Manager, Nicholas Mendes commented: “Following last week’s Monetary Policy Committee decision and with important wage data and general election results on the horizon, markets are likely to anticipate further reductions in bank rates.
“On Friday, the five-year money rate was at 3.82%, indicating that lenders certainly have room to lower five-year fixed rates even further from their current levels.
“Interestingly, last week saw Sonia swaps holding steady at 5.2% since 7 May — the longest stable period since the benchmark’s inception in 1997.
“This stability has enabled lenders to avoid continuous repricing and focus on enhancing their service levels in preparation for the next repricing battle, reminiscent of earlier this year.
Mendes adds: “Given that most recent lender repricing has involved increases, there is now potential for reductions.
“We’ve seen some movement but this latest reprice from HSBC is certainly going to spur on the market.
“The timings of competitor repricing similar to earlier in the year will likely be from next week, considering the forthcoming announcements.”
