Halifax is increasing all two-, three-, and five-year fixed rates for home movers and first-time buyers by up to 20bps. Two-year tracker rates will rise by as much as 10bps for both purchase and remortgage customers.
TSB is raising selected residential rates by up to 20bps and buy-to-let rates by up to 15bps.
Aaron Strutt (pictured right), product director at Trinity Financial, said the Halifax move could signal further increases across the market. “This Halifax rate change probably means that Lloyds will be pushing up its cheap fixes as well, which undercut virtually all of the other lenders by quite some margin,” he said. “Halifax has a decent 4.33% two-year fix and a 4.37% five-year fix available until close of business today.
“We are starting to see most of the lenders raising their fixes, and Halifax is even making its trackers more expensive which means it will no longer offer a sub-4% variable rate deals. We can probably expect a few more rate changes over the next few days, so it is unlikely to be worth holding off booking a rate if you are buying somewhere or remortgaging.
“The continuation of the war in Iran is not good news for many reasons, and it certainly does not help bring any calm to the money markets.”