Rates will be reduced by up to 0.20%
Santander has announced a new round of rate reductions of up to 0.20%, with the new rates going live from Tuesday, August 22.
The high street lender is reducing residential and buy-to-let fixed rates across its new business and product transfer ranges.
In the new business range, Santander is introducing new first-time buyer (FTB) exclusives with £500 cashback and no product fee. It is also launching a new range of residential three-year fixed rates with no product fee, available to purchase and remortgage clients.
The residential fixed rates will be reduced by between 0.02% and 0.20%, while new FTB exclusive fixed rates with no product fee will be available up to 95% loan-to-value (LTV). The bank is also replacing its 2.5-year fixed new build range with new three-year fixed rate options.
In addition, Santander is launching new buy-to-let options with a £749 product fee for new business and product transfer customers, alongside the fee-free and £1,749 product fee options. Selected buy-to-let fixed rates will be slashed by between 0.02% and 0.20%.
“This is a welcome move from Santander, especially when some smaller lenders have actually increased their rates over the past few days,” said Justin Moy, managing director at EHF Mortgages. “Lenders are still looking to grab some market share. Santander is also passing on some savings to existing borrowers, too, to retain their clients.
“Everything is uncertain at the moment. It’s hard to predict how any of the main lenders will react, but this might keep them on their toes for a little while longer.”
Jamie Lennox, director at Dimora Mortgages, added that it was great to see another ‘Big 6 lender’ return with further rate reductions despite plenty of uncertainty remaining around core inflation and how high the base rate may still need to go.
“We may see other lenders follow suit,” he said. “Mortgage lending has slowed noticeably over the summer holidays and we could see more lenders fight it out to gain market share from a reduced pool of people seeking mortgages.”
Santander said that as its latest relaunch is within 14 days of September 3, an exception to its cancellation post acceptance policy will be applied, and it will allow any pre-booked deals due to start on September 3 to be cancelled until 10pm on Wednesday, August 23.
Intermediaries are advised to log on to Santander’s online mortgage transfer service in Introducer Internet to view their client’s choice of rates as these cannot be found on sourcing systems.
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