High street lenders adjust fixed-rate pricing across key ranges
Santander and NatWest have announced further changes to their mortgage ranges, with Santander increasing selected fixed rates while NatWest has reduced a series of purchase products and extended end dates.
Santander’s latest reprice, effective tomorrow, Jan. 14, affect both new business and product transfer fixed rates. Tracker products and the lender’s new business large loan and buy-to-let ranges remain unchanged.
For new residential lending, the bank is raising fixed rates for home movers, including new-build borrowers. All three-year fixed products at 60% and 75% loan-to-value (LTV) will rise by up to 0.10 percentage points, while all five-year fixes at 60% and 95% LTV will also increase by as much as 0.10 percentage points.
In the first-time buyer segment, again including new-build, all five-year fixed products at 85%, 90% and 95% LTV will go up by as much as 0.06 percentage points. In the remortgage range, the 60% LTV two-year fixed rate with a £1,999 fee will increase by 0.01 percentage points, and all five-year fixes at 60% and 75% LTV will rise by up to 0.07 percentage points.
On product transfers, Santander is also lifting a number of fixed rates. All residential five- and seven-year fixed products at 60% and 75% LTV will increase by up to 0.07 percentage points, and the 75% LTV two-year fixed rate with a £1,999 fee will go up by 0.01 percentage points. In the buy-to-let product transfer range, all 60% LTV two- and five-year fixed rates will rise by up to 0.06 percentage points.
Commenting on the latest changes, Aaron Strutt, communications director at mortgage and protection broker Trinity Financial, said: “Santander has been offering a wide range of the cheapest fixes so it isn’t a surprise its rates are going up a bit. No doubt they will come back down again soon enough.”
Another major lender, NatWest, has also confirmed pricing changes from tomorrow, covering its new business range, existing customer products and additional borrowing options, along with revised end dates.
For new business fixed rates, NatWest is shifting its standard end dates so that two-year products now mature on April 30, 2028 instead of March 31, while five-year products will end on April 30, 2031 rather than March 31.
Within its purchase range, NatWest is making small reductions to a series of two- and five-year fixed rates. At 60% LTV, a two-year fixed product with a £995 fee is being cut by five basis points, from 3.67% to 3.62%, and a separate 60% LTV two-year fix with a £1,495 fee is also falling by five basis points, from 3.62% to 3.57%.
At higher LTVs, the lender is reducing a 90% LTV two-year fixed rate with a £995 fee by 6 basis points, from 4.20% to 4.14%, while a 95% LTV two-year fixed with no product fee will fall by eight basis points, from 4.74% to 4.66%.
For five-year fixed purchase products, NatWest is trimming rates at multiple LTV tiers. At 60% LTV, a fee-free product will reduce from 3.91% to 3.89%, a cut of two basis points. Two further 60% LTV five-year fixes, one with a £995 fee and another with a £1,495 fee, will each decrease by one basis point, moving from 3.80% to 3.79% and from 3.75% to 3.74% respectively. At 75% LTV, a fee-free five-year fix is being reduced from 4.03% to 4.01%, a fall of two basis points.
At 80% LTV, one fee-free product is dropping from 4.20% to 4.06%, a reduction of 14 basis points, while two further 80% LTV products, with fees of £995 and £1,495, are each being cut by five basis points, from 4.03% to 3.98% and from 3.98% to 3.93%.
At 90% LTV, NatWest is reducing a fee-free five-year fix from 4.33% to 4.28% and a £995-fee product from 4.20% to 4.15%, both cuts of five basis points. At 95% LTV, a fee-free five-year fixed rate will also reduce by five basis points, from 4.72% to 4.67%.
Some of the UK’s largest mortgage lenders, such as HSBC, Halifax, and Barclays have also implemented rate reductions on their mortgage products this month.
“All these price cuts so early in the year are good news for borrowers, especially those keen to get on the property ladder or remortgage,” Strutt said. “We can also expect to see some more criteria easing and hopefully even cheaper fixed rates.”
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