First-time buyers and home movers to feel the changes
Nationwide Building Society is set to increase a range of its fixed mortgage rates by up to 0.19% from tomorrow, Tuesday 3 February, in a move that affects both new and existing borrowers.
The changes will apply to selected products across its First Time Buyer, Home Mover and Existing Customers Moving Home ranges, as well as its Switcher and Additional Borrowing deals.
Aaron Strutt, product and communications director at Trinity Financial, said the latest adjustments from Nationwide mark a noticeable shift after a highly competitive start to the year.
“These Nationwide rate hikes are probably the biggest we have seen for a while but the building society has been topping the best buy tables with some really cheap deals so no doubt it has been pretty busy,” he said.
Strutt noted that Nationwide is not alone in repricing, with several high street lenders already moving to increase rates or withdraw products.
“Barclays recently made some price increases and product withdrawals. NatWest has also raised some of its fixed rates by 0.10%, while Santander also increased some of its rates by up to 0.07%,” he added.
Despite the latest repricing, Strutt stressed there is still a window of opportunity for borrowers who move quickly.
“There is still time for applicants to get their mortgages agreed with Nationwide and secure these rates, but they will need to be quick,” he said. “When borrowers apply directly for a mortgage they do not tend to be notified if rates are going up which means they get a bit of a shock if they hold off applying.”
Strutt said the market was always likely to see a slowdown in the pace of rate cuts and criteria tweaks after a frantic start to 2026.
“The major banks and building societies had such a busy start to the year that the sheer volume of rate cuts and criteria changes was always going to slow down,” he explained. “Lots of lenders are still offering two-year fixes from 3.51% through Santander and five-year fixes from 3.73% via NatWest.”
However, he suggested that today’s increases may prove to be a pause rather than a full-scale reversal of the recent downward trend in pricing.
“The money markets seem to be pricing in a further Bank of England base rate cut in April, so I suspect even though rates are going up now they will come back down again,” Strutt said.
