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Rate Cuts Grab Headlines - But Are They Reaching Real Borrowers?

ended 12. December 2025

There’s been a wave of headlines this week about mortgage rates “falling”, with several lenders announcing reductions. But some brokers say the impact for real borrowers is limited, especially above 70%/75% LTV where pricing hasn’t shifted much from early summer.

Are rate reductions being over-hyped, and does the public have an accurate picture of what’s actually happening in the mortgage market?

We’d welcome your views on:

  • Are the headline reductions reflective of what your clients are actually being offered?
  • Which LTV bands are seeing meaningful improvements, if any?
  • Are first-time buyers or higher-LTV borrowers benefitting at all from the reported cuts?
  • How different are today’s real rates from what you were sourcing six months ago or at the start of the year?
  • Are lender announcements creating unrealistic expectations among borrowers?

6 responses from the Newspage community

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Rohit Kohli
Director at The Mortgage Stop
Let’s be honest: the noise about interest rates being “cut” - whether it’s coming from government or lenders - isn't matching what real borrowers are seeing. I’m reworking a case I placed six months ago and the like-for-like rate today is only 0.13% lower, despite the base rate dropping by 0.5% over that period. This is a 90% LTV borrower, exactly the type of client who actually needs lower costs, yet their pricing is basically unchanged. Most of the well-publicised reductions sit at low LTVs, helping a narrow slice of the market. For the people who need support the most, rates look almost identical to the start of the year. The public is being told rates are falling - but for most borrowers, they simply aren’t.
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Darryl Dhoffer
Founder at The Mortgage Geezer
The age old saying, if its too good to be true it normally is. Lets not forget BOE base rate reduced in August and yet we saw fixed rate mortgage prices, remain flat or continue to increase until mid/end of September, due to SONIA Swap rate uncertainty. Currently, inflation is still high, and the overall money markets have reflected a stagnant economy last quarter of this year, and mortgage transactions trundling along like a travellers caravan, more likely to set up home then venture out into new green pastures. Current rate reductions are a consequence of a flat market, and really only reductions on previous months hikes, with lenders capitalising on market share where they can. Any lender rate reductions really only benefit the bigger deposit clients. For customers looking at new products with existing lenders, nothing to really see here - lets hope 2026 starts with a bang.
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Aaron Strutt
Product and Communications Director at Trinity Financial
The cheapest rates are always going to make the headlines and it's fair enough when they start from 3.51%. Two-year fixes with a 10% deposit are priced just over 4% so first-time buyers can get access to decent rates. Santander's recent stats show that more people are buying their first properties on their own, and there is a higher percentage of women buying alone. This number may well increase now that affordability calculations have eased so much.
Data from the latest English Housing Survey showed that 59% of first-time buyers had a deposit of less than 20% of the purchase price of their home. Within this, 16% had a deposit between 1% and 9% and 43% put down between 10% and 19%. This shows that many borrowers have a chunky deposit, so they can access decent rates that have got cheaper in recent weeks.
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Mike Staton
Director at Staton Mortgages
Lenders have always looked at reducing rates towards the end of the year as many lenders will be looking to finish the year off strong. These rate reductions will continue to occur into the new year with some lenders looking to start the year off well, combine that with another base rate reduction on the cards and stable SONIA swap rates, the view is bright, but don't let this mislead you in thinking that the housing industry is recovering. What we are seeing is a natural cycle that we witness yearly, unless the Labour government reverse the damage their budget has had on the economy and put some thought into assisting the housing market, these reductions will be short lived
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Ross Lacey
Director & Independent Financial Adviser at Fairview Financial Management
Rates are certainly lower now, than what they were a few months ago.

Borrowers will see or hear headline rates, but there's still often surprise around there being different rates available based on what they borrow compared with the value of the property.

We still get questions regularly from new clients around if rates are bespoke/negotiable to their situation.

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Elliott Culley
Director at Switch Mortgage Finance
There's no doubt mortgage lenders have been making small adjustments to some products rather than fully committing to rate cuts across the board. Some of this delaying is likely due to being at the end of the year and I wouldn't be surprised to see lenders start to be more aggressive once they know their targets for 2026.