According to panel members, pricing cuts made by lenders over past months would be unsustainable by the new year.
Louisa Sedgwick, head of intermediary distribution at Leeds Building Society, said: “The price war won’t continue forever; there is likely to be a jockeying for position throughout the rest of the year however we’ll see some rate rises at the start of next year. I don’t see it [ongoing price cuts] lasting beyond this year.”
Lenders participating in the debate were unanimous in the prediction that the Bank base rate would rise in 2016, with a clear impact on mortgage pricing.
“I expect to see a small 0.1% increase in bank base rate at the start of next year,” said Roger Morris, sales director at Precise Mortgages. “However I think there will be a sustained low interest rate for many years to come – I expect it to only have reached 2% by 2020.”
But Nationwide’s head of intermediary sales Ian Andrews said the initial increase was likely to be bigger.
“We anticipate a 0.25% rise in Q1 2016 and possibly another rise at the end of the 2016,” he said. “I think it will be sensibly planned.”
Pat Bunton, director at London & Country said the decision from Bank of England governor Mark Carney to signal a rate rise sooner rather than later was a helpful move for the broker community.
“[A rise] is a big opportunity for the intermediary community,” he said.
“Carney’s comments earlier in the summer brought about an increase in remortgage action and the normal August dip didn’t happen.”
