Mortgage lenders have continued to reduce rates on their products deals, even as higher inflation means the Bank of England is less likely to lower its base rate.

Santander, Coventry Building Society and Skipton are among the lenders to announce mortgage rate cuts within the past 24 hours.

Santander has introduced reductions of up to 0.45%, coming into effect today, although it is worth noting that it also withdrew certain first-time buyer exclusive rates.

Some other lenders have also pulled deals, as inflation surprisingly rose back to 4%, still some way from the Bank’s 2% target.

Skipton building society is making further reductions of up to 0.27% to selected fixed rate mortgage deals for new customers across its range, including a cut to its 100% mortgage rate for first-time buyers.

It comes just one week after it slashed the cost of a range of its products by up to 0.49%.

The latest changes will also be effective from today and will see, among other rate cuts, the mutual lender’s 100% loan-to-value Track Record mortgage cut from 5.52% to 5.35%, fixed for five years.

Skipton’s biggest rate cut is on its two-year fixed rate for purchase or remortgage at 75% loan-to-value, which drops from 4.99% to 4.72%. There is a £1,495 fee.

Five-year rates at higher LTVs have also been reduced. Skipton is offering a five-year fix for home purchase at 4.96% (95% LTV) with a £1,295 fee. It also has a fee-free five-year deal at 90% LTV for purchase or remortgage at 4.84%.

Mortgage brokers believe yesterday’s marginal increase in inflation could prevent the best fixed rate mortgage deals from falling much lower. The lowest two-year rates are currently at around 4.42%, while five-year fixed rates are around the 3.89% mark.

David Hollingworth, at London & Country Mortgages, said: “Swap rates [the rates at which banks lend to each other] have nudged up slightly but so far no higher than levels that have already been seen in recent weeks. We will have to see what happens, but clearly it won’t add weight to the calls for imminent rate cuts by the Bank of England.

“I think we’ll still see cuts in fixed rates and some lenders are trying to keep up with the best-buy deals. If we see swaps edge up that could underline that fixed rates may not keep falling below the current best rates.”

Aaron Strutt, product and communications director at Trinity Financial, added: “Lenders do not seem to be bothered about the inflation figures at the moment. There have been a huge amount of rate changes over the past few days, not just from the big lenders but also the smaller banks and building societies.

“Every time we think rates are likely to stabilise and will not come down any more, we get another email to say prices are getting better. The rate changes just keep coming, and they are unlikely to stop anytime soon.”

According to Moneyfacts, the average two-year fixed residential mortgage rate remained at 5.62% and the average five-year fixed residential mortgage rate is 5.24%. Both are unchanged from Tuesday – before the inflation rise was announced.

UK mortgage rates continue to fall as competition intensifies