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Santander join sub-4% rate market with up to 0.82% saving

ended 09. January 2024

Santander have today announced a raft of rate changes and products, which will go live on Wednesday 10th January. Headline deals include a sub-4% 5-year fixed rate, while there are also improvements to both buy-to-let range and product transfer products. Newspage asked brokers for their views, below.

 

 

16 responses from the Newspage community

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Elliott Culley
Director at Switch Mortgage Finance
Santander needed to react to other high street lenders' rate cuts over the last week and these reductions will bring them in line with the more competitive products currently available to clients. Their headline rate is the 5-year deal at 60% LTV which will certainly be the envy of the other mortgage lenders.
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Justin Moy
Managing Director at EHF Mortgages
It's been a month since Santander last repriced, but they have come back with a bang. Some of the rate cuts were needed to remain competitive, but the headline sub-4% deals for both purchase and remortgage will have more appeal than the toffees in a tin of Quality Street. In particular, those on buy-to-let and needing product transfers rates will see potentially a lot of benefit from this reprice.
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Charles Breen
Founder at Montgomery Financial
Talk about wanting to make a splash! This is less the usual minuscule repricing we see from one of the big 6, but more like an earthquake!! They just have gone and blown the blooming doors off of their usual pricing structure. The key question is if this is just to drum up some publicity or if will it be the nature of travel for rates going forward. My gut feeling is that we are going to be seeing sub-4% as the new norm.
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Gary Bush
Financial Adviser at MortgageShop.com
Some great New Year's news that Santander is offering a 3.89% fixed rate for five years. It will make UK mortgage account holders' lives a lot easier if they are approaching a mortgage renewal date in the next 6 months. We are very happy that a High Street lender has rolled its sleeves up again and sent a salvo over the top, attacking competitors' offerings. A retaliatory response to this move can be expected in the next few days and definitely by the end of the week. The consumer will be the winner.
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Michelle Lawson
Director at Lawson Financial
Lenders are coming into 2024 strongly as expected. Expect more falls to come as stability returns. This will hopefully further stimulate competition in the mortgage market, which in turn will boost the property market.
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Rohit Kohli
Director at The Mortgage Stop
Santander have taken their time to follow suit with the rest of the high street but now that they have we have some strong products that will be attractive to many different types of borrowers. There are now a lot of lenders in this range and, hopefully, the reductions we're seeing will continue into the rest of the month.
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Katy Eatenton
Mortgage & Protection Specialist at Lifetime Wealth Management
There are now three lenders offering below 4% at lower LTVs, but only two of the big 6. It will be great when the rest follow suit and give borrowers more choice.
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Mike Staton
Director at Staton Mortgages
This has always been on the cards with mainstream lender who are now wanting to join the party. There now seems to be a sense of serenity in the mortgage market and lenders are optimistic about future reductions by the BOE. I expect to see rates of 2.8% by the end of 2024, I expect these to come with lender fees but I am confident this will happen after a reduction in the BOE base rate that I expect to see in May. However, customers should not be lead to believe that rates are the be-all and end-all of a mortgage, these rates come with high fees, which may make this an expensive option, especially in the north of England where house prices are relatively low.
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Ken James
Director at Contractor Mortgage Services
Santander comes to the table at last with a fist-pumping rate reduction. They are looking to take a big slice of the pie for themselves, and this is starting to heat up with serious-looking rate reductions hitting the market from lots of different lenders. Activity is up and this will add fuel to the fire and help some clients make that decision to take action now rather than waiting till the summer. The big question has to be, will it last or is this just a flash-in-the-pan moment for rate reductions?
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Rob Gill
Managing Director at Altura Mortgage Finance
These cuts from Santander to deliver rates below 4% are another salvo in the ongoing rate war as lenders scramble for new business. As long as the inflation outlook continues to improve, the trend of falling mortgage rates that started last year will continue to gather pace.
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Imran Hussain
Director at Harmony Financial Services
Santander are back with a bang hotting up the rate war even more. It's now over to the other lenders to see what they can do with pricing. This is a perfect opportunity for those looking to remortgage or move home with a large deposit — long may the rate war continue. Lender margins will be truly tested to get the best borrowers in 2024.
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Steven Hargreaves
Mortgage and Protection Adviser at The Mortgage Co
It's great to see Santander join the party. Their rates were looking quite unattractive, so they needed to do this. We still have a number of larger lenders to reduce rates, so watch this space. Hopefully, the latest round of rate drops will start to give confidence to all parts of the housing market. A fantastic start to 2024.
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Ben Tadd
Director at Lucra Mortgages
The rate war intensifies with Santander slashing rates significantly, and throwing their hat in the ring as the latest big lender to offer sub 4% fixed rates. 2024 has started as we expected off the back of the significant rate reduction milestones witnessed in December. Expect a domino effect as the rest of the market continues to play catch up, in a bid to hang on to market share to stay on track to hit their 2024 lending targets.
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Darryl Dhoffer
Founder at The Mortgage Geezer
Santander, notorious for keeping its rates high and late to the interest rate reduction party, unleashes a left hook of a 5-year fixed deal at 60% LTV and is leading the market for remortgage and purchase. There are even good reductions on their product transfers. They have certainly come out punching. Welcome, Santander, the lean, mean, rate-slashing machine. But can they keep it up? Will this be a flash knockdown or a sustained pummeling? Only time will tell. But one thing's for sure: Santander's in the driver's seat now, dictating the pace and leaving the competition reeling.
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James Bull
Mortgage Broker at JB Mortgages
Very happy to see more and more lenders reducing rates as we head into the new year. This has filtered through into a lot of press coverage as well. Hopefully this will translate to much-improved consumer confidence and a bump in house purchase transactions.
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Gareth Davies
Director at South Coast Mortgage Services
A matter of minutes after Barclays announce their rate cuts, Santander jump on the bandwagon and steal the thunder. Better late than never by Santander, but a welcome sight. Now let’s see who else can join the sub 4% party. It’s all happening in here, surely they don’t want to miss out?!