Rich

I didn't know that but makes sense 🙂 Tracker rate (0.34%) ends September 2025 but if it takes say a year for the base rate to fall by 1% that brings it down to 4.59%. So still slightly higher than the new 5 year fix I'm looking at. By then my deal will be finishing and fixed rate deals might not have changed much or even increased. Most likely they will have dropped but I can't see it being that much less than current rates. The days of 1-3% rates are long gone. If they drop that low again all it will do it increase property prices further.

The fixed rates dropped as they were expecting the BoE to drop the base rate but it didn't happen. I could've got a 5 year fix for 3.89%, which will now be 4.46% (as I've locked it in) but was increased again last week to 4.58%. Everything I'm reading suggests they won't cut it any time soon and if they do it'll only be 0.25% at a time. So a 1% drop will take a while. I'm waiting until Thursday then I'll take the 5 years I've locked in. It's a better rate than what some people are offered with higher LTVs. I'm comfortable with that rate but any higher and the saving isn't worth fixing in as it'll only be around 0.5% lower than my tracker. By the time the base rate has dropped I would've spent hundreds more staying on the tracker, so can't really win either way.

How does that explain the start of the year when fixed rates were dropping to under 4% as they were expecting the BoE to cut the base rate. Even if it starts dropping it's going to be a slow process. I think I'm taking the 4.46% but will see what happens at the next meeting first. If it dropped another percent to 3.5% that's another £80 a month I could've saved. Looking at the overall picture that's not much difference really. Is it worth risking them staying or even increasing in the hope I might save that extra amount. We're still moving, just putting it off by choice. There isn't much on the market that we like and with my promotion and decent payrise last month it makes sense to stay put while things hopefully settle.

Everyone is just guessing what's going to happen but there is no certainty. I just wish I had locked in a new rate 18 months a go but the reason I didn't is we were planning on moving shortly. It's backfired and now I'll be paying more and with how the housing market currently is we'll be staying put for a while. I'm going to see what happens with the next BoE meeting and how many vote to lower the base rate, if any do. Then I'll accept the 4.46% fix I've locked in. That will reduce the interest by nearly £100 a month which I'll then use to overpay on the capital. Plus add extra to that so I'm at least clearing some of it before we do move in a few years - hopefully. I'm just thankful my mortgage is small compared to some who have overstretched themselves.

Santander have announced rates are increasing tomorrow, so it looks like I was wise to lock the current one in.

I have got the 4.46% fixed rate locked in for 14 days and will see what happens at the next BoE meeting. My mortgage broker says I need to do what's right for me and I would prefer to know what is going out each month. I think his opinion is stick with the tracker for now even if it is more. It's probably going to drop 0.25% in the next couple of months or so and maybe further by the end of the year. He's confident by 2026 it could be as low as 3% but it's all speculation. With the 5 year fix Santander will charge an ERC of 5% in the first 2 years, 3% the next 2 and 1% in the last. If we move in 2-4 years time and need to repay a chunk of the mortgage back that's going to wipe out any saving I would've made fixing the rate and overpaying. If I extend the term and switch back to a repayment mortgage that makes the payments more comfortable on the tracker. Our tracker is 0.34% and we have that until September 2025. By then we could be seeing alot of rates under 4% so maybe the tracker is better. I would just have to hope the base rate doesn't actually increase rather than drop! Unlikely but you just never know.

Seems some providers are increasing fixed rates again! I have no idea what to do now. I can take 4.46% for 5 years, which is 1.17% less than my current tracker but once I accept it I can't change to a lower rate penalty free. It could take a year for the BoE to drop the base rate by 1%, that's if it even goes that low. Will find out what my exact payrise will be next week so can then make a decision.

I didn't realise lots of property was being bought by investment companies. That is so wrong. People should be entitled to buy their own home at an affordable price. I was in North Norfolk today, we're looking to move close to Norwich and I couldn't believe the difference in price looking at the estate agent window. A 4 bedroom detached house with double garage was £325,000. Close to Norwich you're looking at around £450,000. Where we currently live you could double that! 😳

I completely agree. People may not have invested in property if they were getting a good return on their savings. Property values probably wouldn't have increased so much allowing more people to buy too. Now we have lots of people with massive mortgages who's fixed rate deals have finished or will do soon, that are facing having to pay hundreds extra each month. It's easy to say well they would've been stress tested but no one could've predicted utility bills, fuel, food etc increasing in price like it has at the same time.

Gotcha! 👍🏼 Yes I agree, everyone should be able to buy a house, especially when rents are usually more than the mortgage payments. My Dad had a second house but sold it last year after his tenant moved. He did well out of it but now interest rates have gone up he's making the same return from having the money in the bank as he was in the rent he received.

No change in the base rate but 8 voted to freeze and 1 reduce. So could be a sign that at the next meeting more will vote to reduce. I'd imagine a reduction will happen in the summer. Fingers crossed this encourages lenders to drop fixed rates again. Get to 4% or under and I definitely won't be hesitating to fix this time. If I had gone for the 3.89% fix I'd be saving around £150 a month now, based on the same terms. I am still on interest only though and really want to get back on to a repayment plan but not on my current tracker. Switched to interest only as we were going to move and other bills were still high but for the last 18 months I've paid nothing off the capital. Now things have come down and I've since had a payrise I need to start overpaying it asap. Now rates are higher I'm definitely taking more of an interest in this. When we first bought the house the 5 year fix was around 2.8% but I didn't even consider changing it when rates dropped to 1% or below. But at the time Santander didn't step down their ERC so you'd be liable for the lot if you switched products. When I looked at the ERC terms for the fixed rates they do now it says they step down. I don't do shares, any idea why that might be happening? Congratulations on paying one of the mortgages off, must be a relief. I assume you must rent that property out. How do you find being a landlord? The election is likely to be after the summer isn't it. Maybe things will change as we get closer to it.

Possibly, that would be nice. Still kicking myself I didn't go for the 3.89%. Hopefully it drops to that point again soon or lower. See what happens on Thursday with the BoE meeting. Although fixed rate deals go by the swap rates and not the base rates so it might not have any impact. I think it'll stay on 5.25%.

No they've gone up! I wasn't rushing in this time as last year when the base rate kept increasing I switched to a lower tracker in a panic, then they stopped increasing the base rate, so didn't want to do anything rash this time. A few weeks a go it was 3.89% for 5 years. Then it increased to 4.03% (which it was yesterday) but I've just looked now and it's 4.34%!! Kicking myself now, I should've fixed a few weeks a go. I could go: 5 years for 4.49% 3 years for 4.74% 2 years for 4.89% All of these are fee free. The £999 fee ones are only 0.25% less so it's cheaper to take the fix without a fee. A 5 year fix at that rate doesn't seem worth going for now. It doesn't look like the BoE will lower the base rate until the end of 2024. So I either stick it out on my 5.59% tracker, fix at a higher rate now or wait and see if they drop again but there's every chance they could rise too.

Well the budget was a bit crap! Nothing for home owners. I wonder if this will encourage lenders to drop fixed rate deals some more to get the housing market moving again. Another 2 weeks until they review the base rate again. I also had a look at the offers in my Santander account and under ERC it says this will step down over the term. I'm certain that's a new thing, I don't recall seeing it before

For such a large company I'm amazed they haven't even put a Protyre sign up. It's still the same logos for Blackboots and WIM. Reading reviews some people also say they've been using them for years and how good they are. Yet they've only owned it for 2 years and the whole workforce that made BB/WIM are no longer there.