The moves come as the Bank of England is set to hold interest rates this Thursday
Multiple mortgage lenders have increased their rates after weeks of reductions.
Nationwide, Santander and NatWest are among those upping prices this week, in bad news for property buyers and those remortgaging.
Nationwide increased fixed rates by up to 0.19 percentage points from this morning.
Santander’s rates have risen by 0.07 percentage points, while NatWest’s increased by 0.1 percentage points from Saturday.
The moves come days before the Bank of England is expected to hold interest rates at 3.75 per cent.
Mortgage rates tend to fall if there are expectations that the Bank will cut rates more quickly than previously predicted.
Mortgage rates have been falling for weeks, with some deals getting to 3.5 per cent or below, but brokers have warned the recent increases are “a reminder that mortgage pricing can change quickly”.
Why have rates risen?
Mortgage rates follow swap rates, which are used by banks and tend to follow long-term predictions for where the Bank of England base rate might go in the future.
A hold to the Bank’s base rate on Thursday has been expected for a while, but swap rates have risen in recent days because some traders think the Bank may only cut rates once more in 2026, instead of twice as some had expected.
Hina Bhudia, partner at Knight Frank Finance, said: “Swap rates have risen in the past fortnight as stronger-than-expected economic data has prompted investors to reassess their outlook for UK borrowing costs.”
The Bank tends to cut rates as inflation comes down, but also takes into account of how the economy is performing.
High rates can weigh down on the economy, so rates can sometimes come down more quickly if the economy is struggling.
“If the economy remains this resilient, the Bank of England may only cut rates once more this year,” Bhudia added.
What could happen to mortgage rates in the future?
Despite the rise in mortgage rates, cheap deals are still available.
Those with a 40 deposit or equity in their home can get a 3.45 per cent two-year fix from Lloyds if they are members of its Club Lloyds scheme.
Multiple deals below 3.6 per cent are also on the market.
Experts say that there may be some reductions in the coming weeks, but that these will be small.
“In the near term, it would be sensible to expect smaller, more incremental moves rather than significant reductions over the next few weeks,” said Nick Mendes, mortgage technical manager at John Charcol brokers.
He added: “Competition will still exist, but pricing is likely to remain changeable as lenders respond to funding costs and demand.”
Aaron Strutt of Trinity Financial added: “These Nationwide rate hikes are probably the biggest we have seen for a while but the building society has been topping the best buy tables with some really cheap deals, so no doubt it has been pretty busy.
“The major banks and building societies had such a busy start to the year that the sheer volume of rate cuts and criteria changes was always going to slow down. I suspect even though rates are going up now they will come back down again.”