Lenders introduce new rates, fees, and products for a variety of buyers

In the UK a number of lenders have launched new products and reduced rates and fees for homebuyers and property investors in recent days.

The Leeds Building Society has introduced reductions in the headline rate on a number of landlord mortgages which they say is a response to continued demand for buy to let lending.

These products are available throughout the whole of the market and the associated fees remain unchanged at £999. They include a two year fixed rate buy to let rate reduced by 0.59% from 3.99% to 3.40% available up to 75% LTV and a two year discounted buy to let rate reduced by 0.70% from 3.99% to 3.29% available up to 70% LTV.

‘We are very pleased to support landlords and with interest rates at a historic low, we believe it's a good time to lock into a low fixed rate for greater certainty of cash flow. Our two year fixed rate buy to let deal has no higher lending charge, and allows 10% capital repayments each year without penalty,’ said Kim Rebecchi, Leeds Building Society sales and marketing director.

Whilst landlords with a loan to value of 75% or below have a rising choice of buy to let mortgages, product availability above 75% remains limited. Leeds Building Society offers a two year fixed rate buy to let mortgage at 4.99% for landlords with an LTV of up to 80%.

‘Landlords are faced with a plethora of mortgage products and many lenders have chosen to introduce lower rates at the expense of higher product fee. I'm delighted to be making genuine reductions that support our customers and our fees remain unchanged,’ added Rebecchi.

Tesco Bank has announced three new fixed rate mortgage products over two, three and five years at 60% LTV which they say offers competitive rates and fees. At the same time, rates on their range of tracker mortgages have been decreased.

Tesco Bank’s two, three, and five year fixed rate mortgage, and two year base rate tracker provide customers with a choice of fees and customers taking out a mortgage with Tesco Bank will also receive clubcard points as they repay their mortgage, collecting one point for every £4 on their monthly mortgage repayments.

‘The new fixed rate and tracker products we have announced today provide outstanding value to customers. We aim to provide customers with a combination of strong rates, competitive fees and the thank you of Clubcard points, that puts us in a unique position to meet the needs of Tesco customers,’ said David McCreadie, Tesco managing director of banking.

HSBC has released a new tracker mortgage rate in response to demand from customers with more than 50% equity in their homes. The new fee free, lifetime tracker rate is available to HSBC current account customers with a 50% deposit or equity. The rate tracks base rate plus 1.99%, currently 2.49%.

‘We are committed to offering our customers competitive rates, including those with smaller deposits. The fee free 50% LTV rate is in response to demand from our customers,’ said Peter Dockar, HSBC head of mortgages.’