by 0.25 per cent, taking the bank rate to 4.75 per cent. Savings rates are falling as a result so, why are mortgage rates still so high and, in some cases, going up?Just a few weeks ago, as I was about to complete on a remortgage, my lender put my rate up by several percentage points. It was a personal reminder that nothing we do as consumers is in isolation from global events.
“Swap rates fell in the summer and early autumn,” Hudson says. “This was because the financial markets were expecting interest rates to come down sooner and quicker than that had been .”“This meant that it was entirely possible to get a mortgage rate below 4 per cent if you were a ‘good quality’ borrower , but now those mortgages are much more difficult to find.”There is more “uncertainty”, as Hudson puts it, around the prospects for the UK economy which is not growing particularly quickly.
So, if you’re looking to buy a house right now or even remortgage and you’re doing so without huge amount of cash behind you then I’m afraid it’s all still rather expensive.The mortgage broker John Charcol said that a particularly “standout” reduction was Barclays’ two-year fixed at 90 per cent loan-to-value with no product fee, dropping from 5.49 per cent to 5.39 per cent.is calmer than it’s been in a long time.
Pennycook confirmed that the Government will also introduce its new draft Leasehold and Commonhold Reform Bill in the second half of 2025.This will completely overhaul the leasehold and freehold system of homeownership, going far beyond what the previous Conservative government pledged to do.