Barclays cuts residential fixes by up to 20bps and adds 25bps to buy-to-let, a day after four lenders raised rates

On 10 September Barclays cut selected residential fixes, taking its two-year fix at 60% loan-to-value with an 899 pound fee down 20 basis points to 4.55% and a fee-free two-year at 95% loan-to-value down 16 basis points to 5.37%, while raising two- and five-year buy-to-let purchase rates by 25 basis points; Atom Bank trimmed its residential range by 10 basis points the same day. That came 24 hours after Nationwide, Principality, Accord and TSB all repriced upwards, so lenders have stopped moving as a bloc, and with the Monetary Policy Committee not due until 17 September, pricing is being set by individual funding positions and lending targets rather than one shared market signal. For buyers, and particularly those borrowing at high loan-to-values, that makes the best available rate far more lender-specific than it has been in recent weeks, so comparing across the market is worth more this month than it usually is; for landlords buying, borrowing costs moved the other way. This is selective repricing rather than a change of direction, with cuts and rises landing inside the same week, so the average new fixed rate has not obviously shifted and Bank Rate remains at 3.75%.