John Phillips, product manager at West Brom Building Society, said the changes would help first-time buyers and homemovers with smaller deposits.
He added: “It’s important that we continue to offer competitive options that support a wide range of needs. By reducing rates across both our core and new-build ranges, we’re helping customers and brokers access products that offer strong value and greater confidence when making longer-term financial decisions.”
The society has reduced its two-year fixed rate 90% loan-to-value (LTV) purchase mortgage by 0.22% from 5.3% to 5.08%. This product has a £999 fee. Its two-year fixed rate product for those with a 5% deposit with no fee for first-time buyers and homemovers has been reduced by 0.26% from 5.84% to 5.58%.
The society’s two-year fixed rate 90% LTV new-build purchase mortgage with a £999 fee has been reduced by 0.23% from 5.81% to 5.58%.
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TSB cuts rates
TSB is also cutting prices, slashing residential two-year fixes for purchase at 75% LTV or less by up to 20 basis points, with the same reduction coming for five-year fixes for purchase at up to 95% LTV.
Selected remortgage rates will also be lowered tomorrow by up to 15 basis points.
Foundation relaunches BTL products and cuts rates
Intermediary-only specialist lender Foundation has relaunched previously withdrawn products and cut rates on holiday let and multi-unit block (MUB) products.
The changes include reintroducing the ERC3 fixed rate product, which only has early repayment charges for three years of the five-year term. The ERC3 five-year fix is for loans of up to 75% LTV, with a rate of 6.39% and a 1.5% fee.
There are also five new products. F1 is for clients with an almost clean credit history and F2 is for those with some historical blips on their credit rating. These are remortgage-only five-year fixed rate products, available at 75% LTV.
The F1 rate is 6.44% and the F2 is 6.54% – both products come with a free standard valuation and £500 cashback, plus no application fee.
The company also introduced EPC Saver mortgages, in partnership with Vibrant Energy Matters. These aim to help borrowers who want to improve the energy efficiency of their properties and include £1,000 cashback and a free Vibrant Energy saving audit.
The F1 EPC Saver five-year fix is offered up to 75% LTV and has a rate of 6.49% and a 1.25% fee. An F2 short-term let five-year fix is available at 75% LTV with a rate of 6.74% and a 1.25% fee, plus no application fee and a free standard valuation.
The launch of these new products follows Foundation’s expansion of its buy-to-let (BTL) product range at the start of May, when it brought new green, house in multiple occupancy (HMO), multi-unit freehold block (MUFB), holiday let and expat options to market.
Foundation is also reducing rates on two existing products. The new rates apply to the MUFB five-year fixed rate at 75% LTV with a £4,995 fee, which has been cut by 0.15% to 6.09%, and the holiday let five-year fixed rate at 75% LTV, which has been reduced by 0.1% to 6.24%, also with a £4,995 fee.
Grant Hendry, director of sales at Foundation, said: “We’ve moved quickly to respond to changes in the market and continue to try and make sure brokers have access to a strong and relevant set of options for their landlord clients.
“We think the return of the ERC3 five-year fixed rate will be particularly welcome. It’s a product that has been consistently popular with brokers, especially for landlord clients who want a balance between early repayment flexibility and longer-term certainty.
“At the same time, we’ve widened our support for specialist property types, including short-term and holiday lets, which remain an important and active part of the market.
“Alongside this, the rate reductions on our MUFB and holiday let products show our intent to stay competitive and support brokers with cases that can often be more complex to place.”
