Two-year fixed rates have been the biggest mover, with average rates falling by 6 basis points in the past week and down by 22bps over the month.

Moneyfacts’ latest weekly rate watch figures show that prices continued to edge down in most product categories.

Over the past week, four more lenders have launched sub-4% five-year fixed rates, joining Nationwide and taking the total to five.

Two-year fixed rates

The average two-year fixed rate across all LTV tiers has come down by 6bps from 5.76% to 5.7% since last Friday.

The overall average rate has been edging down week by week and is now 22 basis points below where it stood a month ago at 5.92%.

In the past week, two-year fixed rates in the 50% LTV band saw the steepest fall, down by 22bps since last Friday to 5.54%.

Rates in the 70% LTV tier also came down substantially this week by 12bps to 5.95%.

Three-year fixed rates

Across all LTVs, the average fell by 5bps since last Friday to 5.47%.

Compared to a month ago when the average three-year fixed was 5.63%, it is now 16 bps lower.

The 100% LTV band saw the sharpest week-on-week drop in average rates, down 16bps from 5.11% to 4.95%.

At 60% LTV there was also a significant drop in average rates, down by 8bps from 5% to 4.92%.

Five-year fixed rates

Average five-year rates came down by another 4bps to 5.33% after falling by the same amount the previous week.

Looking back to a month ago when the average was 5.5%, rates are now 17bps lower.

The steepest drop over the past week was in the 50% LTV tier where rates fell 19bps to 5.2%

Ten-year fixed rates

There was no change to the average 10-year rate which has remained at 5.93% for three consecutive weeks.

This followed a weekly drop of 8bps from 6.01% in the week leading up to July 19.

‘Lenders catching up with base rate’

Moneyfacts finance expert Rachel Springall says: “This week the mortgage market has been catching up to the base rate cut, with more cuts to trackers and SVRs, but there were also more lenders slashing fixed rates, which include more sub-4% fixed deals.”

Some of the biggest rate cuts have included reductions of up to 70bps by Saffron, up to 60bps by Precise, up to 52bps by Coventry and up to 40bps by Darlington Building Society and by Bluestone.

“It’s a promising sign for borrowers to see more rate cuts by some of the biggest lenders in the country as they are in close competition to entice new business. Swap rates are lower than what they were a month ago, and this, coupled with the recent base rate cut, can encourage lenders to bring mortgage rates down.

“Two weeks ago, Nationwide became the first lender to offer a sub 4% mortgage for the first time in months, closely followed by NatWest just last week, and HSBC, Barclays and Coventry joined the fray this week.”

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