UK Edition
Three of Britain’s largest lenders are cutting rates on some of their home loans from this week.
NatWest, Halifax and Virgin Money have said they will cut rates on some of their mortgage deals following cuts last week by Nationwide, Barclays, TSB and HSBC.
Virgin Money said it would immediately cut rates on some mortgages offered through brokers by as much as 0.41 of a percentage point.
Halifax will reduce the rate on its five-year fixed-rate remortgage deal by 0.18 percentage points and lower its 10-year rates by 0.27 points. NatWest said it would cut rates for new purchases and remortgages on two-year and five-year deals by up to 0.3 of a percentage point from Wednesday.
Craig Calder of Virgin Money said: “We are making reductions to a selection of residential and buy-to-let rates. We have also listened to recent feedback from our intermediary partners regarding product withdrawal notices, and as a result a range of remortgage products will be made available for seven days.”
The cuts came a day after it was announced that banks and lenders will be named and shamed by the Financial Conduct Authority, the regulator, after it found that fewer than 30pc of interest rate rises had been passed on to savers, despite some banks making huge profits from rising mortgage rates.
Smaller lenders also cut rates on Tuesday. They include Vida Homeloans, Foundation Home Loans and Accord, an subsidiary of Yorkshire Building Society that sells via brokers.
Nationwide, one of the country’s biggest lenders, reduced its fixed mortgage rates by up to 0.35 percentage points last Friday. TSB then announced a drop of up to 0.55 points on its two-year purchase and remortgage deals, while Barclays lowered its rates by up to 0.15 points.
HSBC was the first major lender to cut rates last week when it announced reductions of 0.35 points.
As of last Thursday, the average cost of a two-year fixed-rate mortgage had fallen to 6.83pc from 6.86pc two days earlier, according to data firm Moneyfacts. The financial markets have priced in a Bank Rate rise to 5.25pc this week and now expect rates to peak at 5.75pc in March next year.
Inflation eased to a 16-month low of 7.9pc in the year to June. This was down from 8.7pc in May and well below the 8.2pc expected by economists.