It’s War! Lenders Battle for Market Share

There’s been a flurry of rate cuts from lenders serving all sector of the market as a battle begins for market share.

In recent days Nationwide BS customers moving home have enjoyed rate reductions of up to 0.4 per cent across a range of two-, three-, and five-year fixes up to 95 per cent LTV.

For first-time buyers, Nationwide has cut will rates by up to 35 per cent across selected two-, three-, and five-year fixed products up to 95 per cent LTV.

The lender has good news for remortgages too - cuts of up to 0.15% across selected two-, three- and five-year fixed rates up to 90 per cent LTV.

Santander has new rates up to 0.2 per cent cheaper - and just days after its previous rate cuts, which saw interest fall by up to 0.29 per cent on certain products.

The week before Halifax cut rates by up to 0.71 percentage points with HSBC, TSB and NatWest making similar moves.

Virgin Money has also had a flash sale on a range of cheaper remortgage deals, but with the offer lasting only seven days.

Will this last?

Jamie Lennox, director at Dimora Mortgages, says: “Mortgage lending has slowed noticeably over the summer holidays and we could see more lenders fight it out to gain market share from a reduced pool of people seeking mortgages.”

But Samuel Mather-Holgate - independent financial advisor at Mather and Murray Financial - warns that the war will be short lived.

“Lenders are still trying to attract new business by cutting rates for borrowers, but this won’t last. Whilst new lending has nearly dried up, lenders have the appetite to take on borrowers with little margin in their pricing, but with inflation staying high and a central bank more likely to increase rates rather than cut them, rates won’t continue to be cut for much longer” he says.

“Until the Bank of England starts cutting rates, which should be later this year, borrowers face uncertainty around which direction the cost of borrowing money will go.”