Virgin Money has reduced the rates on a selection of its mortgages for homebuyers and remortgagors, as well as landlords.
The new deals include a 95% loan-to-value (LTV) five-year fixed rate fee-saver, which will be reduced by 0.04 percentage points to 4.99% for purchases.
Select two- and five-year fixed rates will be reduced for remortgages by up to 0.15 percentage points, starting from 3.96%.
Select product transfer fixed rates (for existing customers switching to a new rate) have also been cut by up to 0.15 percentage points, starting from 3.79%.
Two- and five year fixed rate buy-to-let (BTL) mortgages with a 1% fee will be reduced by up to 0.14 percentage points, starting from 4.07%.
Atom Bank cuts rates
The UK’s first app-only bank, Atom, has reduced rates across both its Near Prime and Prime product ranges by up to 0.2 percentage points.
The Prime rate reductions include cuts of up to 0.2 percentage points up to 90% of the property’s value on two-, three- and five-year fixed rate mortgages. Cuts of 0.1 percentage points have been made to the lender’s 95% mortgages for those with a small 5% deposit.
Atom has also reduced its Near Prime product range, which is designed for borrowers with credit problems.
Its two- and three-year fixed rates at 60% and 75% of the property’s value have been reduced by 0.2 percentage points.
The bank’s five-year fixed rates have been cut by 0.15 percentage points.
Average rates down year-on-year
The individual lender cuts are feeding into average rates, which have fallen significantly, said Rightmove.
The property portal found that the average five-year fixed mortgage rate is now 4.58%, down from 5.53% a year ago.
The average two-year fixed mortgage rate is now 4.93%, down from 6.07% a year ago.
And the average monthly mortgage payment on a typical first-time buyer type of property is now £1,087 per month, down from £1,187 per month a year ago (based on an average five-year fixed, 85% LTV mortgage).
Toby Leek, NAEA Propertymark’s president, said: “It has been an extremely challenging few years for people in terms of approaching the housing market. We have witnessed a very unfavourable mix of high inflation and high interest rates, which truly have affected the ability of people to approach the buying and selling process.
“However, now that the economy is seeing progression and more overall stability, it’s reassuring to see lenders now starting to overhaul their offerings, which will help bring an enhanced confidence and affordability moving forwards.”
