Average five-year mortgage drops below 6%

The average rate on a five-year fixed mortgage has fallen below 6% for the first time since early July, new figures show.

On Thursday, the typical rate dropped to 5.99%, according to the financial information service Moneyfacts.

The average two-year deal has a rate of 6.5%.

Around three-quarters of mortgage customers hold fixed-rate deals. Banking trade body UK Finance says there are about 800,000 of these deals ending in the second half of 2023, and about 1.6 million expiring next year.

These borrowers were given some hope of rates turning the corner when the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee decided to hold the benchmark interest rate at 5.25% last Thursday. The move was a surprise to some analysts who were expecting another rise.

There have been incremental drops in the average rates since then, with some major lenders - such as Nationwide Building Society, HSBC and NatWest - cutting the cost of a number of deals.

Despite falling below 6%, the average five-year rate is still only back to the level seen less than three months ago. On 3 July, the five-year rate was 5.97%, but rising.

Borrowers still face the likelihood of having to pay hundreds of pounds more each month compared to their expiring deal.

That has caused concern among debt charities, and an expectation that house prices could drop further.

Brokers say there is no a much stronger chance of some mortgage-holders being able to seal a rate of less than 5%.

But they say there is no chance of rates plunging to the kind of ultra-low levels that benefitted homeowners in the decade or so before late 2021.

That is because the economic situation is very different and the Bank of England's governor, Andrew Bailey, has played down the possibility of the wider Bank rate being cut soon.

"I can tell you that we have not had any discussion... about reducing rates, because that would be very, very premature. Our job is to get inflation down," he said last week.