Every Friday we take an overview of the mortgage market, hearing from industry voices and getting a round-up of the best rates courtesy of the independent experts at Moneyfactscompare.co.uk. Barclays and Natwest became the latest high street lenders to increase their fixed mortgage rates yesterday.This follows similar moves this week from Santander, HSBC, Nationwide and TSB. Only Allied Irish Bank currently offers rates below 4%.
'The Bank of England base rate is still expected to fall over time, but markets are questioning if the pace will be as rapid.'Conversely, anyone on a tracker or standard variable rate will have seen, or will see, their rates fall after last week's base rate cut to 4.75%.Caitlyn Eastell, from Moneyfacts, says that week on week, the overall average two and five-year fixed rates rose to 5.44% and 5.17% respectively.