As highlighted in this article on Money Hospital – mortgage lenders in the UK are charging much higher rates than their Irish counterparts. Here in Ireland the base rate (ECB) is 1.25% – in the UK it is just 1%. You would expect mortgage rates to be similar – or even lower in the UK – but that doesn’t seem to be the case. One of the lowest rates in the UK is from HSBC – it is 4.99% Fixed for 2 years and it comes with an application fee of £1499. Application fees are unheard of (so far) in Ireland.
In Ireland the lowest of the 2 year fixed rates is 2.8% available with an LTV of 92% from AIB or 3% from Halifax (LTV 90%). Here in Ireland borrowers never seem to be happy – always expecting more decreases as the ECB rate falls. Maybe they should think themselves lucky?
