The cost of mortgages is slowly falling, both on a weekly and annual basis, Rightmove analysis shows.
As it stands you can take out a 2-year fix with a typical rate of 4.81%, falling by -0.04% week-on-week and -0.42% annually.
For 5-year fixed rate mortgages they now stand at 4.70%, down -0.03% from last week and -0.13% annually.
Matt Smith, Rightmove’s mortgage expert, said: “We’ve seen more major lenders announce lowest, or ‘best buy’ rates, with some eye-catching sub-4% rates for those with the largest deposits. However, average rates for the mass-market of home-movers have stayed relatively flat.
“Pricing changes can be painful for lenders, as they can quickly erode their margins, so they are looking at other ways to compete.
“We have seen a range of changes to criteria to help home movers over the last few weeks, including increasing maximum loan to income levels and reducing stress testing.
“This raft of activity comes on the back of the FCA – the financial services watchdog – encouraging lenders to look at ways to help consumers within the current regulation before a more comprehensive review kicks off in the Summer.
“The narrative around tariffs continues to shift almost daily, so I’d still expect some caution from lenders. We’re now just over three weeks away from May’s Bank Rate decision, and as things stand it’s looking highly likely we’ll see a second rate cut of 2025.”
The deepest annual reduction in rate comes in 2-year fixed rates to 95% LTV, where it now costs 5.54%.
This marks a reduction of -0.44% year-on-year and -0.05% on a weekly basis.
