Halifax is latest lender to slash mortgage rates including a new best buy two-year and five-year fix

Halifax is the latest lender to announce it will cut its mortgage rates, in a move that could bring further cheer to struggling homebuyers.

Starting Monday, his changes will include two new best buys that will be available to movers with large deposits.

Its cheapest five-year fixed rate will be 4.73% with a £999 fee, while its cheapest two-year fixed rate will be 5.24% with a £999 fee.

However, both deals will only be available to borrowers with at least a 40 per cent deposit (60 per cent loan to value). As always, it’s worth speaking to a mortgage broker to check eligibility.

Someone buying a £350,000 home requiring a £200,000 mortgage may be eligible to apply for Halifax’s cheapest deal.

In this example, a £200,000 mortgage paid off over 25 years would cost them £1,138 a month fixed for five years or £1,197 fixed for two years.

Halifax’s two deals will be slightly better than Nationwide’s cheapest deals. The building society announced massive redundancies on Tuesday and is the current market leader.

Nationwide’s cheapest five-year fixed fell 0.2 percentage points to 4.74 per cent, with a £999 arrangement fee.

Halifax has also launched new deals for those borrowers buying with smaller deposits.

For example, those buying with a 25 per cent deposit (75 per cent loan to value) will be able to secure an interest rate of 5.29 per cent on a two-year fix or 4.82 per cent on a five-year fix.

Both deals are again slightly cheaper than the next best deals on the market.

Nicholas Mendes, mortgage technical manager at John Charcol, welcomed the news and said he expected more lenders to follow suit in the coming weeks.

“Halifax has shown real intent with this latest fixed rate cut, to 4.73 per cent over five years, which has really turned heads.

“That’s great news and it’s slowly getting closer to 4.5 percent, hopefully by the end of October.”