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Mortgage Rate Rollback Continues With Nationwide - Views Wanted

Journalist: Newspage News Desk

ended 22. August 2023

From tomorrow, Wednesday, 23 August, Nationwide Building Society is reducing selected fixed rates by up to 0.40%.

Rate reductions are across their New Business, Existing Customer Moving Home, Switcher and Additional Borrowing product ranges.

A few questions.

  • Are we over the peak and have we seen the last of rate increases?
  • Will rates stay where they are even if the Bank of England increases the base rate in September?
  • Is this round of redcutions by mainstream lenders because property transactions have slumped throughout August, or are lenders trying to inject some competition back into the mortgage market?

13 responses from the Newspage community

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Ranald Mitchell
Director at bad credit mortgage specialists Charwin Mortgages
Big reductions from Nationwide fixed-rate pricing following on from HSBC earlier today. Whilst this relentless price war continues, and high street lenders all compete for market share, it is questionable whether there is now a disconnect between base rate movement, swap rates and retail pricing. Lender pricing will be intriguing if there are further base rate increases and I expect there will.
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Imran Hussain
Director at Harmony Financial Services
It's wonderful to see another lender reduce rates it was to be expected from nationwide as the other Big 6 lenders had reduced rates earlier in the month; with inflation falling, many of us will be hoping this is and was the peak that rates hit but there will be scepticism from many as inflation data is due in September and this will play in borrowers appetite going forward.
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Darryl Dhoffer
Founder at The Mortgage Geezer
Lenders - loan books to fill, profits to be made, shareholders to appease, all equating to recent reductions, and not normal price war activity - they are all reducing rates, in line with the increases seen in July, however, with increases in SWAP rates over the last 7 days, lenders may very well be reaching fixed rate floor level, for retail pricing for the time being at least.
Current fixed rates, I can see holding out for the next few weeks, so lenders can sweep up any straggling end-of-summer applications, with repricing set again 2nd/3rd week in September when surprise, surprise, another round of Inflation Figures and Bank Of England rates are published. Going to be a very tight margin period for lenders as we move into the final quarter of this year - not for me to commiserate with them wholeheartedly of course
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Stephen Perkins
Managing Director at Yellow Brick Mortgages
The rate reductions just keep coming as no one wants to be left without a chair when the music stops. Great news for all borrowers as the rate war continues for market share. This is despite another expected base rate increase at the next meeting in early September. Expect more lenders to follow HSBC and Nationwide's lead.
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Rohit Kohli
Director at The Mortgage Stop
Rate reductions are always welcome and I think the last couple of weeks has helped to settle the nerves of home buyers and sellers alike. I don't think we're suddenly going to see the market return to activity levels seen pre-last year's mini-budget anytime soon but if rates continue to fall and the Bank of England can hold its nerve next month and not raise rates for a 15th time in a row then we may see confidence flow back in for the later half of of the year. It's clear lenders want to lend with these recent rate cuts, the government and the BoE need to join the party as well.
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Katy Eatenton
Mortgage & Protection Specialist at Eatenton Finance
I wouldn’t say we are over the peak just yet, but the recent rate reductions by multiple lenders is definitely welcome.

I think the main driver will be to generate business and to reduce rates to a more realistic level after dramatic increases in anticipation of inflation figures and BOE increases.

Hopefully any further BOE rates won’t impact fixed rates anymore, but it’s so hard to predict anything at the moment.
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Rhys Schofield
Brand Director at Peak Mortgages and Protection
The rate war is in full force once again with lenders competing for business. The winners will me mortgage holders with lower repayments each month. I think there are still more reductions to come as shots continue to be fired.
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Jamie Lennox
Director at Dimora Mortgages
Another big lender getting in the mix of the rate drop party despite plenty of uncertainty around future base rate rises. It feels like lenders are dropping rates on a daily basis and shows the dier state the demand for mortgages is at with lenders having to scrap round with price reduction to lure customers in.

Customers do need to still be mindful about waiting for rates to come down further though, as we've seen in recent months one set of negative data released and rates bounce up far quicker than they come down.
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Gary Boakes
Director at Verve Financial
Lenders now realise that charging higher margins has caused the market to slow and they are now all battling for the limited business. The housing market was ticking over quite nicely until the sudden and large rate rises in June causing buyers and sellers to sit back and see what was going to happen with rates. The continuous up and down and uncertainty with rates, needs to be replace with a time of stability and we will see buyers come back to the market.
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Ben Tadd
Director at Lucra Mortgages
Nationwide's response to Santander's rate reductions yesterday and HSBC's moves in the market this morning will help to ignite further competition in the market. Smaller lenders will now likely follow suit and their hands will be forced to act as well. Expect some further rate reductions in the weeks to come, leading up to the next inflation data release on the 20th of September and the base rate decision the very next day. For now, at least, those homeowners coming off their fixed rates in the not-too-distant future will be keeping a keen eye on the rate war which is fully underway.
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Anil Mistry
Director and Mortgage Broker at RNR Mortgage Solutions
This is fantastic news! Another major lender has cut their rates, which shows that lenders are becoming more confident in lending once again and are opening their doors for further business.
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Graham Cox
Director at Bridging Hub
For now, lenders are reducing rates to generate new business. But we're at the mercy of next month's inflation data, due out on Sept 20th. If the figures satisfy the markets, we could see a base rate cut by Christmas.
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Rob Gill
Managing Director at Altura Mortgage Finance
While there is some concern over stickier-than-expected core inflation, last week's inflation figures were good enough to allow lenders to continue with the rate cuts that started in early August. As many lenders will be behind the curve following an earlier-than-usual summer slowdown, an all-out price war from September cannot be ruled out.