Rises of up to 24 basis points (bps) have been made to mortgage rates for new and existing borrowers, including its new business residential purchase product at 90% loan to value (LTV). The fee-free two-year fixed deal has been hiked from 5.33% to 5.56%.
A similar product at 95% LTV has been increased by 13bps to 5.7%, while the 60% LTV purchase product with a £995 fee and fixed for two years has been increased by 24bps to 4.78%.
Elsewhere, NatWest has increased the pricing of a fee-free two-year fixed remortgage at 60% LTV by 18bps to 5.31%, while the corresponding option at 75% LTV has gone up by 16bps to 5.37%.
For buy-to-let (BTL) borrowers, increases of up to 20bps have been made, including its fee-free two-year fixed purchase product at 60% LTV, which is now priced at 5.14%, up from 4.94%.
The fee-free two-year fixed remortgage at 75% LTV has risen by the same margin to 5.5%, and the five-year fixed option with a £5,999 fee has gone up by a similar amount to 4.63%.
Aldermore Insights with Jon Cooper: Edition 9 – Why lending strategy is becoming more central in buy to let
Sponsored by Aldermore
As for its rate reductions, NatWest has cut its five-year fixed further advance pricing at 75% LTV with a £995 fee by 5bps to 4.83%.
Changes take effect from 21 May.
Barclays cuts high LTVs and makes some increases
Barclays has cut pricing, primarily across high-LTV mortgages, and made selected increases elsewhere.
For its residential purchase deals, the fee-free two-year fix at 95% LTV has been reduced to 5.5%, and the five-year fixed alternative has been dropped to 5.32%.
The fee-free five-year fix at 90% LTV has been lowered to 5.23%.
Santander cuts mortgage rates and withdraws products
Santander has announced rate reductions across its new business and product transfer deals.
Live from 22 May, selected first-time buyer rates at 85%, 90% and 95% LTV will be cut by as much as 0.23%. The rate of its My First Mortgage product will stay the same.
For homemovers, selected two-year and all three- and five-year fixed rates will be lowered by up to 0.24%, while all fixed remortgage rates will be cut by as much as 0.25%.
Reductions of up to 0.1% will be made to all BTL remortgages.
Cuts of up to 0.27% will be made to selected tracker rates, while most residential product transfer rates will rise by up to 0.22% and BTL product transfers by up to 0.1%.
Santander will also withdraw all 60% LTVs and most 75% LTV fixed and tracker rates for first-time buyers, including new build.
Darlington BS cuts foreign currency mortgage rates
Darlington Building Society has reduced rates across its residential foreign currency mortgage range by up to 30bps.
This includes the two-year fix at 80% LTV, which has been reduced by 20bps to 5.39%, and the option at 90% LTV, which has been cut by 30bps to 5.79%.
The five-year fix at 80% LTV has been lowered by 20bps to 5.39% and the 90% LTV option has been cut by 30bps to 5.79%.
Chris Blewitt, head of mortgage distribution at Darlington Building Society, said: “Foreign currency cases tend to be the sort of transactions where there is rarely a straightforward route from enquiry through to completion. Clients may have overseas income, multiple jurisdictions involved, or circumstances that sit outside standard systems and policy rules.
“What brokers often tell us is that these are not difficult clients, they are simply clients that need more thought around how a case is assessed. Pricing is important, but so does knowing there is someone willing to look beyond a standard checklist and understand the wider story behind an application.
“We have seen steady demand in this area and, while rates are only one part of the conversation, improving pricing gives brokers another option when they are trying to place cases that can sometimes have a limited number of homes.”
Accord increases income for high LTIs
Accord Mortgages has increased the minimum eligible income for loan-to-income (LTI) borrowing above 4.49.
This has been upped from £50,000 to £65,000 and applies to residential new business and additional borrowing. It does not apply to first-time buyers, which have no minimum income requirement.
This change was effective from 20 May.
