Mortgage Rates Cut

By Peter Wakeford
Published on 9 Oct 2008
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Mortgage Rates Cut

Lenders have confirmed mortgage rate cuts following the Bank of England's decision to lower the base rate by half a percentage point.

Many mortgage deals will become cheaper as a result of the Bank of England's interest rate cut, lenders have confirmed.

At midday yesterday, the Bank announced that it would reduce the base rate by 0.5 percent to 4.5 percent, with many of the major banks adjusting their standard variable rate (SVR) accordingly following the news.

Halifax, Lloyds TSB, Woolwich, First Direct, Royal Bank of Scotland and NatWest have all now announced SVR cuts of half a percent from November 1st.

The cut will reportedly affect the seven percent of UK mortgage holders who have a tracker mortgage, equating to approximately 11.7 million UK households saving an average of £500 annually.

This latest move may come as good news for those looking to buy property, as the interest rate cut - combined with the recent announcement of the government's rescue plan for banks - is predicted to halt the decline in the availability of home loans.

Michael Coogan, director general of the Council of Mortgage Lenders, said: "All this decisive action augurs well for an improving market situation looking ahead, even though no one is pretending the tough times are over yet."

UK house prices dropped an average of 1.7 percent in September, representing the 11th consecutive month in which they have fallen, according to Nationwide.
 

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