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Halifax hikes rates

ended 17. February 2026

Halifax have just announced some rate hikes. What are your thoughts? The increases are at lower LTVs of 60% and 75%, so is this more about them rebalancing their book and prioritising some borrowers over others? Or should we read more into this? Any thoughts, ASAP please.

5 responses from the Newspage community

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Darryl Dhoffer
Founder at The Mortgage Geezer
Halifax is hiking selected mortgage rates despite falling swap rates, but borrowers shouldn't be fazed. They're doing this because they have been 'Top Dog' on rates for about a week, got absolutely flooded with applications and are now managing work flow. This is a classic 'watering down' strategy. The cost of money is down, but their underwriting team is drowning in paperwork. Instead of processing faster, they’re just making the product too expensive to buy so you’ll leave them alone. It’s the banking equivalent of a bartender screaming “We’re out of beer!” just because they can’t pour pints fast enough.
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Rohit Kohli
Director at The Mortgage Stop
Halifax has been very competitive recently, so this looks more like them easing off the accelerator than reacting to funding pressure. Swap rates have actually been trending down sharply in recent data, so this repricing isn’t being driven by rising costs. If anything, the backdrop supports more reductions on the horizon. That’s why this feels like book management. I wouldn’t read it as a market warning. It’s more about managing pipeline and margins than signalling a wider shift.
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Louis Mason
Content and Communications Director at Oportfolio Mortgages
Halifax repricing at 60% and 75% LTV isn't a market signal, it's a volume dial being turned down. These are the tiers where lenders attract their safest, most rate-aware borrowers, typically equity-rich remortgagors who've done their homework. When a major lender raises here, it usually means one of two things. Either they've hit an internal capacity threshold and need to slow things down, or they're quietly rebuilding margin in a segment where they feel borrowers can absorb it without walking away. 5-year swap rates have been elevated, and some lenders have been adjusting accordingly. But what's interesting with Halifax specifically is that they've been sitting at or near the top of the market for first-time buyers for a while now. This move at the lower LTV tiers looks very much like a deliberate realignment of their book, pulling back from equity-rich remortgagors to maintain their appetite and competitiveness where they've chosen to focus.
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Justin Moy
Managing Director at EHF Mortgages
These are not huge increases, but they are enough to take the shine off the other rate cuts launched by fellow high street competitors over the past few days. This has all the feel of Halifax looking to scale back its lending for certain borrower types, as lenders are generally focusing more on purchase and first-time buyer deals at the moment. Increasing rates a little on remortgages should allow Halifax to keep those purchase deals competitive.
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Jonathan Alvarez Herrera
Mortgage Consultant at Ayla Mortgages
Halifax’s decision to increase rates at 60% and 75% LTV looks more like strategic repricing than a sign of broader market tightening. Right now, lenders are being very selective, adjusting rates by LTV band depending on demand, funding costs and how they want to shape their mortgage book. In the past few days we’ve seen Bank of Ireland reduce rates on Wednesday and NatWest cut rates today, while Barclays has made mixed changes, increasing some products but reducing others. Against that backdrop, Halifax’s move appears to be more about rebalancing and margin management in the lower-risk LTV space, where competition is already strong, rather than a shift in overall market confidence. Overall, the trend remains competitive, particularly for higher LTV borrowers and first-time buyers.