Nationwide cuts selected fixed mortgage rates by up to 19bps, reversing July's hikes

Nationwide, the UK's largest building society, cut selected two-, three- and five-year fixed rates by up to 0.19 percentage points on 3 August, unwinding part of July's increases. It moved even though swap rates - the wholesale funding costs that drive fixed pricing - held broadly flat, so this reads as competition on margin rather than a response to cheaper money. For buyers it modestly improves the biggest lender's deals this week; for sellers it lends slight support to demand after a thin summer. It is one lender's repricing, not a market-wide turn, and the Bank of England's hold at 3.75% still caps how far fixed rates can fall.