New FTB fixes launch alongside repricing, with some products offering cashback
Santander has announced reduced rates across parts of its fixed-rate range for first-time buyers, home movers and remortgagors from Friday, 24 April, with cuts of up to 0.25 percentage points.
Among the changes is a reduction to the high street lender’s 98% loan-to-value (LTV) My First Mortgage product, which will fall by 0.25 percentage points to 5.60%. This is Santander’s second set of reductions in April, following earlier changes to higher-LTV products last week.
Alongside the repricing, Santander will introduce several first-time buyer products. These include a 95% LTV three-year fix at 5.55% with no fee and £250 cashback; an 85% LTV two-year fix at 4.80% with a £999 fee and £250 cashback; and an 85% LTV five-year fix at 4.98% with no fee and £250 cashback.
The revised rates will be available through brokers and direct channels, under the lender’s “no dual pricing” approach.
For first-time buyers, Santander said its My First Mortgage first-time buyer exclusive at 98% LTV — requiring a minimum £10,000 deposit and offering £250 cashback — will be cut by 0.25 points. Selected two-year fixes will be reduced by up to 0.14 points, with selected three- and five-year fixes down by as much as 0.25 points.
For home movers, selected reductions will reach up to 0.06 points on two-year fixes, up to 0.10 points on three-year fixes, and up to 0.05 points on five-year fixes. Equivalent adjustments will also apply to new-build home mover products.
In the new-build first-time buyer range, selected two-year fixes will fall by up to 0.14 points, selected three-year fixes by up to 0.25 points, and selected five-year fixes by up to 0.10 points.
For remortgage customers, Santander said selected two-year fixes will be reduced by up to 0.13 points, while selected five-year fixes will be lowered by up to 0.10 points.
The latest rate cut from Santander comes after several rounds of repricing across the market since early March, when heightened Middle East tensions pushed up wholesale funding costs, lifting swap rates and gilt yields and tightening margins.
Conditions have been steadier in recent weeks. After the US–Iran ceasefire announced on 8 April, lower oil prices and a decline in the two-year gilt yield eased concerns about further rate rises.
“The price reductions are still coming through, but they may not last much longer,” said Aaron Strutt (pictured right), product director at Trinity Financial. “The cost of funding mortgages has gone up again and there are strong suspicions that these new lower priced fixed rate may well get pulled quite quickly.
“If you are on the hunt for a mortgage and holding off because you think rates are on the way down, I would think again. Try to get a rate booked if you are buying somewhere or your remortgage is due over the next four or five months.
“HSBC has announced its latest rates, and it has a 4.62% two-year fix and a 4.76% five-year fix, which undercuts Nationwide and Halifax’s 4.64% two-year fix. Halifax has one of the most competitively priced three-year fixes at 4.73% at the moment as well as its 3.96% tracker. If you are not sure whether to take a fixed or tracker rate, some mortgage lenders let borrowers take a combination of both.”
Want to be regularly updated with mortgage news and features? Get exclusive interviews, breaking news, and industry events in your inbox – subscribe to our FREE daily newsletter. You can also follow us on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), and LinkedIn.
