Nationwide Building Society has announced new rate cuts of up to 0.4% on its fixed mortgage products, while Santander has reduced interest rates on residential fixed rate mortgage products by up to 0.2%.

Nationwide BS 

From today, new Nationwide BS customers moving home can benefit from rate reductions of up to 0.4% across selected two-, three-, and five-year fixes up to 95% loan-to-value (LTV). These include a 5.39% five-year fixed rate at 60% LTV with no fee, a 5.89% three-year fixed rate at 75% LTV with a £999 fee, and a 5.94% two-year fixed rate at 60% LTV with a £999 fee.

For first-time buyers, the major lender will be reducing rates by up to 35% across selected two-, three-, and five-year fixed products up to 95% LTV, including a 5.44% five-year fixed rate at 60% LTV with no fee, a 6.04% two-year fixed rate at 75% LTV with a £999 fee, and a 5.94% three-year fixed rate at 60% LTV with a £999 fee.

For those remortgaging, there will be cuts of up to 0.15% across selected two-, three- and five-year fixed rates up to 90% LTV. These include a 5.49% five-year fixed rate at 60% LTV with a £999 fee, a 6.39% two-year fixed rate at 75% LTV with no fee, and a 6.30% three-year fixed rate at 90% LTV with no fee.

In addition to these, Nationwide is reducing selected two-, three-, and five-year fixed rates for existing customers moving home by up to 0.40%. Switcher and additional borrowing rates will be reduced by up to 0.10%.

Henry Jordan, director of home at Nationwide Building Society, said: “As economic conditions continue to stabilise, we are able to make further cuts to our mortgage rates, building on the reductions we have made in recent weeks.”

Santander 

Santander also announced a new round of rate reductions yesterday, with the new rates going live today at up to 0.2% cheaper.

The high street lender’s latest move comes just one week after the bank’s last spate of rate cuts, which saw interest fall by up to 0.29% on certain products.

A new range of first-time buyer products has also been launched offering rates from 5.41% plus £500 in cashback.

Graham Sellar, head of business development, Mortgages at Santander, commented: “We are delighted to be able to help borrowers access cheaper loans with further reductions to our fixed mortgage rates. Santander is also continuing to support first-time buyers, providing £500 cashback to help with the costs of buying their first home.”

Among Santander’s latest deals:

+ 75% loan-to-value (LTV) five-year fixed rate residential purchase mortgage with a £999 product fee is now priced at 5.2%, down from 5.3%

+ 85% LTV two-year fixed rate residential purchase mortgage with a £999 product fee is now priced at 5.99%, down from 6.09%

+ 90% LTV five-year fixed rate residential purchase mortgage with no product fee is now priced at 5.84%, down from 5.99%

New first-time buyer products from Santander:

+ 75% LTV five-year fixed rate residential mortgage with no purchase fee at 5.41% with £500 cashback

+ 85% LTV two-year fixed rate residential purchase mortgage with no purchase fee at 6.46% with £500 cashback

+ 90% LTV two-year fixed residential purchase mortgage with no purchase fee at 6.54% with £500 cashback

+ 90 percent LTV five-year fixed rate residential purchase mortgage with no purchase fee at 5.84% with £500 cashback

Jamie Lennox, director at Dimora Mortgages, told the press: “It’s great to see another Big Six lender return with further rate reductions despite plenty of uncertainty remaining around core inflation and how high the Base Rate may still need to go.

“We may see other lenders follow suit. Mortgage lending has slowed noticeably over the summer holidays and we could see more lenders fight it out to gain market share from a reduced pool of people seeking mortgages.”

But Samuel Mather-Holgate, an independent financial advisor at Mather and Murray Financial, believes the spate of interest rate cuts “won’t last”.

He believes that further anticipated Base Rate hikes are expected to drive interest rates back up again.

Mather-Holgate said: “Lenders are still trying to attract new business by cutting rates for borrowers, but this won’t last. Whilst new lending has nearly dried up, lenders have the appetite to take on borrowers with little margin in their pricing, but with inflation staying high and a central bank more likely to increase rates rather than cut them, rates won’t continue to be cut for much longer.”

“Until the Bank of England starts cutting rates, which should be later this year, borrowers face uncertainty around which direction the cost of borrowing money will go.”