Lenders adjust residential and BTL pricing as swap rates ease
Santander and HSBC have announced mortgage rate cuts as easing swap rates prompt some lenders to reduce pricing.
Santander will lower a range of residential and buy-to-let rates from Monday, 11 May, with changes including cuts of up to 15 basis points (bps) across all 10-year fixed rates for first-time buyers. Selected homemover deals will fall by a similar amount.
The lender will also reduce remortgage rates, including large-loan products, by up to 19bps. Fixed rates for buy-to-let purchase and remortgage will be cut by up to 23bps.
Santander’s two-year tracker rates for first-time buyers and homemovers will fall by up to 50bps, while large-loan tracker options for remortgage and homemover borrowers will be reduced by up to 40bps.
Selected two-, three- and five-year fixed product transfers for residential borrowers will be lowered by up to 15bps. All two- and five-year fixed buy-to-let product transfers will fall by up to 23bps.
One Santander deal will increase. Its two-year fixed rate for first-time buyers at 85% loan-to-value, with a £999 fee and including new-build properties, will rise by 0.05 percentage points.
Santander will also add fixed and tracker rates at 60% and 75% LTV for first-time buyers, including new-build borrowers.
Meanwhile, HSBC UK has reduced mortgage rates by up to 30bps across its range, effective today.
The changes support first-time buyers, home-movers and customers looking to remortgage, with additional incentives for energy efficient homes and enhanced cashback for first-time buyers.
Key highlights include two-year tracker mortgages at 60% and 85% LTV with a £999 fee, now priced at 4.09% and 4.44% respectively, both reduced by 30bps and offering £350 cashback for energy efficient homes, rising to £500 for first-time buyers.
For purchases, five-year fixed 60% LTV products with a £999 fee are now 4.49%, or 4.46% for PREMIER customers, both down 12bps and with £350 cashback on qualifying energy efficient homes.
Remortgage and buy-to-let remortgage customers also benefit from lower two-year fixed and tracker rates at 60% and 75% LTV, with and without fees, plus £350 cashback on energy efficient homes.
“Swap rates have started to come down again and some lenders are still improving their mortgage rates even though it looked pretty certain they were going to start putting them up just a few days ago,” said Aaron Strutt (pictured right), product director at mortgage broker Trinity Financial.
“Santander is bringing the price of its trackers back down, which is good news because they are still very popular even though there are messages coming out that the base rate may have to rise. HSBC's 4.45% two-year fix, TSB's 4.64% three-year fix and HSBC's 4.61% five-year fix top the best buy tables, although Barclays and Halifax still have sub-4% trackers.
“There is a lot of economic uncertainty at the moment, but lots of people still want to get on the property ladder. We are speaking to more renters trying to purchase their rented homes using concessionary purchase mortgages as the number of buy-to-let properties being put on the market continues to rise. We are still helping lots of buyers work out how much they can borrow and how much their mortgages would cost and while it is clearly higher than a few months ago most clients understand why.
“While they know rates are higher, they are still eager to know when they will come back down again and this is clearly linked to Donald Trump and the Iran war coming to an end. There has also been a rise in the number of down valuations, and this is causing buyers problems.”
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