HSBC offers 1.99 per cent mortgage

The range of new loans includes a second two year discount mortgage for customers with at least a 25 per cent deposit at an interest rate of 2.49 per cent. Both discount mortgages have arrangement fees of £1,199 and are discounted from HSBC standard variable rate which is currently 3.94 per cent.

A new three year fixed rate mortgage, at 4.19 per cent with a fee of £999 and a maximum loan to value of 60 per cent is also available.

Martijn van der Heijden, head of mortgages at HSBC said: "Across the market lenders' standard variable rates are at an all time low, as a result we are launching our lowest ever mortgage rate - 1.99 per cent - to appeal to remortgaging homeowners. We have also made our higher loan to value mortgages even better value to support the increasing number of home purchasers either move, or step on the housing ladder for the first time."

HSBC was the largest net mortgage lender in the UK in the first half of 2009, with £4.2 billion in new lending, and has pledged to double its 2007 level of mortgage lending this year by making £15 billion available to customers.