Three of the ‘top six’ mortgage providers have increased their mortgage rates today – but there is hope this is just a temporary ‘blip’.
NatWest is increasing fixed rate deals by 0.10% for existing borrowers who switch to one of its products at the end of their current deal from tomorrow.
Meanwhile, Santander is increasing fixed and tracker rates for new customers and existing customers switching to another Santander deal. However, it also reduces a number of fixed rates for remortgages on homes and all its rates for purchase and rental.
Halifax also announced it will increase its flat rates by 0.2% starting Wednesday.
It’s not just the ‘big’ lenders who are raising their prices; Co-operative Bank has also revealed it will increase interest rates by up to 0.72%.
The news providers pushing for more rate hikes will be a blow to borrowers who were hoping prices would fall further after the positive start to the year.
Katy Eatenton, mortgage and protection specialist at Lifetime Wealth Management, speaking via the Newspage office, said: “This week has not started as we had hoped. Three of the six major lenders have now announced interest rate increases.
“This is even worse because many major banks are currently not at the top of the list when looking for products.
“This confirms that they are not raising prices to reduce business volumes, so they may be anticipating that the next set of inflation data may not be as positive as we would like.”
However, SWAP rates – which influence how lenders price their mortgages – are starting to fall again, so there is hope price increases we see at this point that it may just be a blip.
Ranald Mitchell, director at Charwin Private Clients, also said via the Newspage agency: “Yet another lender raising rates following the example of Santander, NatWest and Co-op.
“This latest round of rate hikes will be seen by cynics as market exploitation, especially given that underlying SWAP market rates appear to be falling. This could be a big blow to mortgage lenders before a wave of possible rate cuts.”