Mortgage and Property Investment Magazine Logo

HSBC launches 3.99% five-year mortgage rate – reaction

by | Feb 7, 2023

Share this article

Home image

HSBC has launched a 3.99% five-year (re)mortgage rate. Free PR platform, Newspage, sought the views of brokers around the UK.

Imran Hussain, Director at Harmony Financial Services: “HSBC have thrown their hat in the ring in their pursuit of the best borrowers. However, it’s worth noting is that this is a remortgage product for those with 40% equity in their property. It’s great to grab headlines as it undercuts the Bank of England’s base rate, but it’s aimed at specific borrowers, and it may be here today and gone tomorrow.”

Chris Sykes, Technical Director and Senior Mortgage Adviser at Private Finance ltd: “We have needed a good news story for a while and this is a great opportunity to put one out. Some borrowers still think rates are in the 5%-6%s and there is a lot of misinformation out there about this. With SWAPs reducing last week following the base rate decision, especially on longer term money like 5-year fixes, lenders have more scope to do this. We suspect HSBC will not be the only lender to introduce rates like this for cream-of-the-crop business. It is rare to get fixed rates under base rate.

Riz Malik, Director at R3 Mortgages: “Launching a 5-year fixed rate under 4% is great news and I would not be surprised if this product is popular purely because it starts with a 3. However, as it is only available to those borrowing up to 60% loan to value, this rate will not be available to everyone. I expect other high-street lenders to follow shortly as the price war continues regardless of the recent base rate rise.”

Justin Moy, Managing Director at EHF Mortgages: “As predicted, the first sub-4% 5-year fixed deals from HSBC are now available to those with a 40% deposit or equity in their property. It’s a significant announcement given the backdrop of the base rate increase last week. We have continued to see fixed rates slipping throughout January, and this is another landmark moment. Others will need to follow soon, and don’t be suprised if the deal may be withdrawn soon if left as the only lender at this low rate.”

Samuel Mather-Holgate, Independent Financial Advisor at Mather and Murray Financial: “HSBC are always keen to be top of pops on mortgage pricing and this puts them there again. Mortgage pricing has been fierce competition over the past six weeks and rates still seem to be coming down. Moving into the Spring I expect rates to creep up again as economic news may force up the UK government borrowing rate that mortgages tend to use for pricing.

Craig Fish, Founder & Director at Lodestone Mortgages & Protection: “I only said yesterday that it was now a race to see who would offer the first 5-year fixed below 4%, and here it is. I now suspect that many will follow and that the actuaries are working as much overtime as us brokers who keep rekeying applications to ensure our clients always have the best deals available to them. This is only available at 60% LTV, which is to be expected at present, and it’s even lower at 3.96% for HSBC premier customers, but it’s great news overall.”

Rhys Schofield, Managing Director at Peak Mortgages and Protection: “While the mortgage headlines may have all been doom and gloom last week, the reality is that actual mortgage rates have generally been on the way down for the past few months. It’s great to see a real positive move from HSBC that will grab the headlines and hopefully see other lenders follow suit.”

Gary Boakes, Director at Verve Financial: “HSBC are the Pied Piper, now watch all the other lenders follow. This is fantastic news. Yes, the LTV is 60% and it is a 5-year fixed, so it is not going to suit the majority of buyers or remortgages, but it is a continuation of good news stories that we as brokers need to be getting out to our customers to improve confidence in the market. I for one am ready to follow HSBC hopefully to pastures new and not a slow mortgage broker death.”

Aaron Strutt, Product and Communications Director at Trinity Financial: “A sub-4% fix that undercuts the Bank of England base rate looked a long way off a few months ago. This rate will give more hope to the 1.4 million homeowners that need to remortgage this year. With competition between lenders hotting up, it is even more important to make sure are getting the best deal before committing to a new mortgage.”

Graham Cox, Director at Self-employed mortgage specialist – SEMH: “HSBC’s sub-4% deal is clear evidence that the recent base rate hike has not affected mortgage rates adversely. At the moment, it’s a full-on price wars as lenders slug it out to maintain market share at the expense of short-term profits.”

Anil Mistry, Director and Mortgage Broker at RNR Mortgage Solutions: “This is great to see and it will make potential borrowers more confident that mortgage rates are dropping despite the Bank of England’s tenth consecutive base rate increase. HSBC rate cuts will likely be a precedent for other lenders to lower their rates further, which can only be a good thing.”

Share this article

Related articles

Sign up to the Mortgage and Property Newsletter

Trending articles

IFA Talk logo

IFA Mortage and Property is the new addtiion to the IFA Talk podcast family, where we discuss the latest topics relevant to Mortgage and Property professionals.

IFA Talk Mortgage & Property Podcast

x