Homeowners are being urged not to panic after 30 mortgage lenders put up rates this week.
Brokers think this is unlikely to be the start of another big rise in rates that have soared over the past two years. But they say that anyone who has held off from locking in a new deal in the hope that rates would start to fall should stop waiting and take the plunge.
The average two-year fixed rate went up slightly from 5.82 to 5.83 per cent after a flurry of rate rises by lenders including HSBC, NatWest and Accord (part of Yorkshire Building Society) on Tuesday. The Co-op, Halifax, Nottingham Building Society and The Mortgage Works, part of Nationwide Building Society, also put rates up this week.
