What's the thinking behind the rate drops?
LiveMore and several other lenders have announced reduced rates on several of their mortgage products, with the later life lending specialist slashing rates by up to 85 basis points (bps).
LiveMore’s limited time rate reductions apply to lifetime mortgage (equity release), standard capital & interest, standard interest-only, and retirement interest-only (RIO) products. The most significant cut is on lifetime mortgage rates, which have been lowered by as much as 85bps, bringing the starting rate down to 5.29%.
The lender’s standard repayment and interest-only mortgage rates now begin at 5.23%, with reductions of up to 15bps. RIO rates have also been reduced by up to 15bps, now starting at 5.48%.
“It’s important to us that we help brokers provide their clients with more affordability, more property and more products,” said Les Pick (pictured left), director of intermediary sales at LiveMore. “These rate reductions should help open the market to more people in the 50-plus age bracket who may still be challenged by the ongoing higher costs of living.”
Other lenders have also recently announced rate reductions across a range of mortgage products in a bid to support homebuyers, movers, and landlords amid ongoing market pressures.
Virgin Money has reduced rates across its purchase, remortgage, buy-to-let, and product transfer categories.
Reductions include 95% loan-to-value (LTV) fee-saver products, with free valuation and £300 cashback, lowered by up to 11bps, starting from 5.03%. Selected Fix and Switch rates have been reduced by up to 11bps, now starting from 4.93%. Exclusive 80% LTV purchase rates have been cut by up to 16bps, beginning at 4.12%. Several BTL products saw rate cuts, including a reduction of up to 18bps on Fix and Switch rates, starting from 4.74%.
Virgin Money has also raised rates on select 80% LTV BTL five-year fixed rate products, with increases of 20bps, now starting at 5.27%.
Meanwhile, Saffron for Intermediaries has announced significant rate cuts on its owner-occupied range, reducing rates by 40bps across key products.
The repriced deals include an 85% LTV two-year fixed rate, now at 4.77%, with a £999 arrangement fee, and an 80% LTV five-year fixed rate, reduced to 4.17%, also with a £999 arrangement fee.
“These new rates aim to help make the process of buying or moving home more affordable,” said Tony Hall (pictured centre), head of business development at Saffron for Intermediaries. “The announcement follows the launch of our Professional Product range at the beginning of the month, and new criteria in August, all of which supports our ambition to help as many people as possible achieve their home ownership goals.”
Principality Intermediaries has also lowered today its rates on a variety of residential and cashback mortgage products.
These include reductions of up to 25bps on two-, three-, and five-year fixed rate residential mortgages at 80% LTV, and cuts of up to 20bps on residential cashback mortgages at 80% LTV.
Similarly, Newbury Building Society has introduced rate reductions of up to 30bps across various mortgage categories, including standard residential, shared ownership, and BTL products.
Key changes include a reduction in standard residential three-year fixed rates at 75% LTV from 4.89% to 4.64%, and shared ownership products for 85% and 95% LTV reduced by 20bps, with rates now starting at 5.09%. A reduction of 65bps on expat BTL five-year fixed rates has also been implemented, now at 5.64%.
“We’re pleased to announce several rate reductions across our standard residential, shared ownership, and existing borrower mortgages as we continue our work to support borrowers looking for their first or next home,” said Roger Knight (pictured right), mortgages product manager at Newbury Building Society.
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