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Mortgage rates

Journalist: Jane Matthews, FTAdviser

ended 13. April 2023

Hello mortgage advisers! 

After a mix of annual leave and the long weekend I am now trying to get back to grips with where mortgage rates are currently. I'm Interested to hear what you are experiencing on the ground with clients - Any sudden changes with specific lenders? 

Looking at the data broadly average rates haven't changed significantly in the last month, so I'm curious to know where you are seeing the best/worst value currently. 

Also eager to know where you think we might see rates go over the summer - can we expect further reductions? 

Many thanks, 
Jane

4 responses from the Newspage community

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Ross Lacey
Director & Independent Financial Adviser at Fairview Financial Management
2 year fixed rates on residential purchases are as low as 4.08% with Barclays whilst 5 year fixed rates are as low as 3.79% with Virgin, who only recently reduced their rates to this level. Customers need to consider not just the headline rate though, but any associated product fees charged by the lender to get a true picture of the total cost. Larger mortgages tend to be more cost-effective on a lower-rate product with a product fee.

We've seen fixed rates come down since the high points in November/December 2022, so hope to see this trend continuing - lenders are likely to be factoring in consensus views about any further rate rises from the Bank of England.
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Gary Bush
Financial Adviser at MortgageShop.com
We expect 2/3/5 year fixed rates to settle in the 3/4% range by the year-end. As long as the inflation rate does as expected and reduces to more palatable levels.
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Luke Thompson
Director at PAB Wealth Management
Interest rates have definitely settled down in the last couple of weeks. However, after the Easter break both The Nottingham and Coventry have announced rate reductions at higher loan-to-values this week.

I think in the coming months there is potential for interest rates to continue to drop for the higher loan-to-value products, especially in relation to two-year fixed products as these are still priced on the high side. A lot will depend on how the housing market continues to perform if the market remains reasonably quiet lenders will need to price attractively to get the business levels they require and this may fuel further cuts in the interest rates being charged.
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Gary Boakes
Director at Verve Financial
Rates are stable which is great news, after all the ups and downs we have had over the last 12 months it is great not only for the brokers but for the customers that we have some stability. The rate changes we are seeing now is just general lenders jostling for business. With talks of the base rate potentially rising again by 0.25%, I would be surprised if we were to see any rate rises, we know inflation is going to fall quickly over the next 6-12 months, so all of this would have been taken into account by the swap rates and lenders. Im not expecting anything to change with rates dramatically until early 2024.