Proactive Investors - Coventry Building Society has raised its rates for the second in under a week as mortgage lenders mull where interest rates are likely to go next.
All of Coventry BS’s fixed rate products are going up from tomorrow, it announced, just days after its last increase.
Brokers say it is now not possible to get a fixed mortgage under 4% while the last move by three of the largest lenders NatWest (LON:NWG) Santander (BME:SAN) and TSB, was to increase rates.
A rise in the cost of raising money wholesale markets or swap rates has been blamed for the increase, but such is the uncertainty currently about the direction of base rates some such as Halifax, the market's largest lender, are still going the other way.
Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said: “Swap rates have been edging higher as markets grappled with mixed economic data and big questions about what the chancellor might pull out of his box on Budget day.
“That’s pushed lenders like HSBC (LON:HSBA) to announce that mortgage costs will rise, which will be tough news to swallow for all those homeowners whose ultra-low fixed rates are due for renewal in the next few weeks.”
Halifax is owned by Lloyds Bank (LON:LLOY).