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A number of UK lenders, including NatWest, TSB, Nationwide building society and Virgin Money, have cut their mortgage rates, with some fixed deals going below 5%.
Several lenders began to reduce deals after UK inflation slowed unexpectedly to 6.7% on Wednesday despite higher petrol prices. There were more cuts to mortgage rates after the Bank of England decided to leave its base rate unchanged at 5.25% yesterday, rather than raising it as markets had expected. The move triggered hopes that the peak in rates may have been reached.
NatWest announced 0.31% reductions across fixed residential and buy-to-let deals. Nationwide reduced selected fixed rates by up to 0.31% from today. The UK’s biggest building society said five- and 10-year fixed rates for first-time buyers and home movers will now start at 4.94%.
TSB will reduce some residential deals by up to 0.25% today, which means deals start from 5.09%. Virgin Money said its five-year fixed rates will start from 4.97%. Yorkshire Building Society also launched a sub-5% mortgage this week, lowering its five-year fixed rate to 4.99%.
Mortgage rates in the UK have fallen slightly, according to Moneyfacts.
The average two-year fixed residential mortgage is now 6.56%, down from 6.58% yesterday, while the average five-year fix has edged lower to 6.06% from 6.07%. There are 5,295 residential deals available at the moment, slightly up from yesterday.
The average two-year buy-to-let deal dropped to 6.46% from 6.48%, and the average five-year deal for buy-to-let landlords was unchanged at 6.36%.
Experts expect mortgage rates to fall further in the coming weeks and months amid a “rate war”. There are now some five-year residential deals on offer for less than 5%.
Retail sales in Great Britain staged a modest recovery in August, rising 0.4% after July’s washout, when they fell 1.1%.
Economists had expected a 0.5% increase. Over the three months to August, sales were up 0.3%, according to the Office for National Statistics.
Supermarkets and other food stores were the strongest performers, with sales up 1.2% last month after July’s 2.6% drop, when supermarkets reported that the wet weather reduced clothing sales and their food sales also fell back.
It was the wettest July since 2009 and the sixth-wettest July on record since 1836, according to the Met Office. While the weather in August improved on July, it was still a mixed and unsettled month, the ONS noted.
Sales at non-food stores (department stores, clothing retailers and others) were up 0.6% last month, after a 1.2% decline in July. However, online sales suffered, falling 1.3% after July’s 1.9% rise, when heavy rain and a range of promotions boosted sales. Petrol and diesel sales fell by 1.2% as prices rose sharply.
European shares have opened lower, and global stocks are on track for their worst week in a month, as investors are expecting US interest rates to stay high for some time.
MSCI’s index of global equities dropped 1.7%.
The Bank of Japan kept ultra-low interest rates today. The US Federal Reserve also held rates this week but expectations of swift rate cuts next year receded.
In London, the FTSE 100 index slipped 21 points, or 0.3%, to 7,658 in early trading. The Dax in Frankfurt and the Ibex in Madrid fell 0.6% at the open, as did the Euro Stoxx 600 index of Europe’s leading shares.
The agenda
• 9am BST: eurozone HCOB PMIs flash for September
• 9.30am BST: UK S&P Global/Cips PMIs flash for September
• 11am BST: UK CBI industrial trends for September
• 2.45pm BST: US S&P Global PMIs flash for September
We’ll be tracking all the main events throughout the day ... |
| | | Katharine Viner | | Editor-in-chief, The Guardian |
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