UK lenders slash mortgages as Bank of England rate cut brings relief to homeowners

LONDON — Britain's major high street lenders have begun slashing their mortgage rates in a sign that financial pressure on households may be easing after the Bank of England cut interest rates for the first time in over four years.

HSBC, Santander and Nationwide are among the lenders to have trimmed borrowing costs following the BOE's decision on Thursday to lower its Bank Rate to 5% from its 16-year high of 5.25%.

Homeowners on tracker mortgages, which follow the Bank's base rate, will be the first to benefit from the savings. Barclays, Santander, Metro Bank, Lloyds, Halifax, Nationwide and HSBC all cut repayments costs by 25 basis points shortly after the BOE's announcement.

Those on standard variable rates, which typically take effect once a borrower's tracker or fixed rate deal ends, will also see savings. From September, Santander will trim its SVR from 7.50% to 7.25%, Lloyds from 7.25% to 7.0%, and Halifax from 8.74% to 8.49%.

Given their more volatile nature, tracker and SVR mortgages remain a relatively niche part of the U.K. mortgage market. Of the 8.39 million outstanding residential mortgages as of Dec. 2023, 643,000 were trackers and 624,000 were SVRs, according to trade body UK Finance.

However, analysts suggest it may not be long until reductions feed through to the 6.93 million households on fixed rate mortgages. Indeed, last week Nationwide became the first lender since April to offer a sub 4% deal on its five-year fixed rate in anticipation of the BOE's monetary policy shift.

"[Borrowers can] expect to see further pricing improvements in fixed rates, as lenders continue to fight hard to gain a share in a very competitive market," David Hollingworth, associate director at L&C Mortgages, said via email.

Laura