NatWest has slashed the cost of home loans prompting hopes of lower mortgage bills for millions. The high street banking giant – which is rivalled by the likes of Lloyds, Barclays, Santander, Nationwide, HSBC UK and TSB – has announced its intention to lower its fixed-rate by up to 0.17 percentage points from Thursday onwards.
It comes after inflation finally fell to just two per cent after three years. Riz Malik, Director at R3 Mortgages said: “Despite all the politico-economic turbulence, lenders are still willing to lend and NatWest, based on this evidence, want their piece of the pie.
“With the base rate decision looming, all eyes are on the main mortgage lenders and what they will do regardless of whether we see the first rate cut since 2020 on Thursday.” Rohit Kohli, Director at The Mortgage Stop, said the Bank “will want to maintain the air of neutrality during an election” even with inflation dropping to 2 per cent.
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Justin Moy, Managing Director at EHF Mortgages told Newspage: “Amid the political noise, this is a small but welcome rate cut from NatWest for new business. Applications have slowed across the industry in recent weeks so we could see a ripple of small changes in the next fortnight if inflation hits target or better this week.
“Small wins like this matter.” Samuel Mather-Holgate, Independent Financial Advisor at Mather and Murray Financial told Newspage: “NatWest have broken the mould by making changes to their product pricing. With an interest rate decision due on Thursday, inflation out Wednesday and the election just around the corner, most lenders are holding firm on pricing until there is more certainty.
“NatWest have reduced rates across the board, so must be thinking that a Labour Government will usher in an era of rate cuts in the second half of 2024.”