Moneyfacts.co.uk – the leading independent financial comparison site, has commented on the changes in the mortgage market two weeks on from the base rate cut of 0.25% on 6 December.

Julia Harris, analyst at Moneyfacts.co.uk said: “At long last there is scrap of good news for borrowers on variable rate mortgages linked to standard variable rates, with just over 50% of mortgage providers (53 lenders) having already signalled their intention to cut rates.

23% of providers that have reduced their rates have reduced them by less than 0.25%. The list includes Northern Rock which cut by 0.15% and Cheshire BS which dropped its rate by 0.20%. 10 lenders have reduced their standard variable rate below 7%, with Stafford Railway BS currently the lowest in the market at 6.34%.

21% of those that have announced changes will delay the change of rates for new borrowers to the start of next year.

It is important to look at how many products that some lenders currently offer are linked to standard variable rates. Many of the larger lenders have been quick off the mark to drop their rates by the full 0.25%. If you look at little more closely, you will discover that many of these don’t currently offer many new products linked to SVR.

Halifax, Nationwide, Cheltenham and Gloucester and Northern Rock don’t offer any products linked to their own standard variable rates at present, leaving only Abbey from the top five lenders with seven products linked to SVR.

We are still waiting on a number of the lenders that offer the larger range of SVR linked mortgages, such as Leeds BS, Cumberland BS and Norwich and Peterborough BS to announce their decisions. Some borrowers were anticipating some good news will have to be patient for a little longer until they find out their revised monthly repayment.

Those looking to take out a variable rate mortgage need to be aware that this is a time where the market is in a state of flux. One rate may look better than another simply because it has taken a cut and another hasn’t. If you can hang in there a further two weeks until things have settled down, it will be easier to work out which are the best deals.”