HSBC has revealed plans to retract a large portion of its mortgage offerings from the market due to concerns about the volatility of interest rates, marking the second such instance in less than a week.
The bank will stop offering new residential mortgages via its broker services at 5 pm today, in an effort to “maintain our service levels,” prior to a scheduled increase in rates on Thursday.
Previously, HSBC had taken down all residential, buy-to-let, and business mortgage deals to ensure operations remain “within our operational capacity.”
This marked the first time HSBC had stepped back from the mortgage market since the turbulence that followed September’s mini-Budget, which was in response to upheaval in the government debt market.
Mortgage lenders are intermittently limiting the availability of mortgage deals and raising rates in response to predictions from the financial markets that interest rates will climb to 5.75pc by year’s end.
This development coincides with a rise in Government borrowing costs beyond the levels witnessed during Liz Truss’s term as Prime Minister. This is coupled with worries that Chancellor Rishi Sunak will fail to achieve his goal to cut inflation by half this year.
