Nationwide announces new mortgage rates cut on same day base rate is hiked

Nationwide Building Society is cutting some of its new mortgage rates from Friday, despite the Bank of England hiking the base rate.

The building society said it is making reductions of up to 0.45 percentage points across some products, including fixed and variable rates.

The announcement was made on the same day that the Bank of England base rate increased from 4% to 4.25%.

Henry Jordan, director of home at Nationwide Building Society, said: “We regularly review our mortgage rates and these latest cuts are being made across both our fixed and tracker products, meaning all types of borrowers could benefit, whether they are buying their first home, moving to their next or looking to re-mortgage.”

Nationwide said the new deals include a two-year fixed rate with no fee and a rate of 4.49%. The rate has been reduced by 0.45 percentage points and borrowers will need a 40% deposit.

A three-year fixed rate is also available at 4.89% with a £999 fee for borrowers with a 10% deposit. The rate will be 0.30 percentage points lower than previously.

In general, the base rate is not the only factor that lenders look at when pricing mortgages, with swap rates, funding costs and competition with other lenders or targeting particular borrowers also potentially playing a part.

Nationwide said its changes are not a response to the Bank of England’s announcement, with swap rates effectively already “pricing in” Thursday’s rate change.