Brokers share thoughts on lenders increasing rates
Barclays has announced that it has increased the rates on a number of two- and five-year fixed rate products within its residential purchase and remortgage new lending ranges, effective March 10.
The lender’s selected two-year residential fixes at 60% to 90% loan-to-value (LTV) had their rates increased by 32 basis points (bps). Rates of similar products with a longer five-year term were raised by 20 bps.
The complete list of Barclays’ products that have had their rates increased can be accessed online.
Brokers react to Barclays’ announcement of new rates
Commenting on the lender’s move, some brokers were not surprised, given the increase in swap rates, the impending budget, and a likely base rate increase.
“We’ve now had HSBC, Accord, Platform, and Barclays come out with rate increases,” Gary Boakes, director at Verve Financial, said. “In the short term, the market was always going to have its up and downs while inflation and the Bank of England base rate were high. I fully expect more lenders to follow suit this and next week.”
Gareth Davies, director at South Coast Mortgage Services, agreed, saying “we need to get used to this.”
“Any lender that regularly sits at number one of the sourcing tables won’t want to stay there for too long,” Davies stated. “This has been evident with Platform, HSBC, Virgin, Nationwide, and now Barclays.”
For Jamie Lennox, director at Dimora Mortgages, it was only a matter of time before Barclays pulled the plug on some of the rates being offered.
“They’ve been offering some competitive options, and with the recent increases seen with swap rates, this was the inevitable outcome,” he said.
Lewis Shaw, owner and mortgage broker at Riverside Mortgages, was also not surprised that lenders were increasing rates again.
“It’s been written in the stars for a while,” he said. “The mortgage market is very tumultuous currently, with lenders both jostling for position in mortgage sourcing tables to fulfil lending targets while keeping an eye on swap rates to ensure their business is profitable.
“Rates are changing daily. As brokers, we can react to this before these rates are even available, which is just another in a long line of reasons why savvy homebuyers, movers and remortgagers use good quality brokers to keep them right.”
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