Weekly rate watch: Three- and five-year fixes lead reductions

By: ameer@trustedteam.com

Both the three- and five-year average fixed rates lost 7 basis points this week, says Moneyfacts.

This resulted in the former coming to 5.32% and the latter to 5.16%, data shows.

At the same time, the average rate for a two-year fix fell 4 basis points, to 5.43% and the 10-year fix by 1 basis point, to 5.34%.

Two-year fixes

The most significant change within this fix took place at 70% LTV, where the average rate lost 12 basis points, moving to 5.60%.

And at 85% LTV, the average rate dropped 4 basis points, to 5.41%.

Three-year fixes

It was at 70% LTV where the biggest drop occurred here, too – by 41 basis points, resulting in a price of 5.75%.

At 80% LTV, the average rate fell 8 basis points, to 5.43% and, at 95% LTV, a single basis point reduction left the average rate at 5.67%.

Five-year fixes

The 70% LTV theme continued, at this fix reducing by 21 basis points, moving the average rate to 5.43%.

At 80% LTV, meanwhile, the average rate dropped 10 basis points, to 5.27%.

10-year fixes

There were zero changes significant enough to show up in the data at this fix this week.

Moneyfacts finance expert Eleanor Williams comments: “Activity in the mortgage sector this week has been made up of a mixture of provider updates, some, of course, as a direct result of the Bank of England decision to increase base rate for a tenth consecutive time. As may be expected in the aftermath of yesterday’s announcement, variable tracker rate increases in line with the 0.50% rise in base rate are already being processed from lenders such as HSBC, Barclays Mortgage, Virgin Money, Leeds Building Society and first direct.

“However, in the fixed rate sector, the trend continues to be predominantly positive, with rate reductions making up a significant proportion of the product changes processed this week. Some notable cuts were made by Kensington, with selected fixed rates falling by as much as 0.90%.

“Saffron Building Society repriced selected fixed deals with some reducing by as much as 0.70%. Suffolk Building Society made various amendments to its range, including rate decreases of up to 0.54%, as well as launching a number of new product options. United Trust Bank made reductions of up to 0.50% across various fixed rate products, as did Principality Building Society.

“Other updates included Platform and The Co-operative Bank lowering some fixed rate offerings by up to 0.28%. The NatWest group improved selected deals with reductions of up to 0.24% and Lloyds Bank and Halifax both cut up to 0.17% from various fixed deals for remortgage borrowers.

“Virgin Money also tweaked its fixed rate deals with reductions of up to 0.18%, and including an eye-catching ten-year fixed deal now offered at below 4%, which cemented its place in our top tables.”

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