This week's best mortgage rates

Whether you're buying your first home, moving up the ladder or looking to invest, check out our round up of the best mortgage deals around.

Compare Mortgages: Browse the full range of home owner mortgages on the market. Filter by your situation and compare on total cost including fees.

First-time buyers

If you are looking to buy your first home the maximum loan-to-value on the mortgage will probably be your biggest concern.

If you are a first-time buyer with only a 5% deposit to put down then Chelsea Building Society is offering a two-year fixed-rate deal at 3.69%. However it does come with a pretty heft fee of £1,825.  

Those people with a 10% deposit looking for a fixed deal should look to Norwich & Peterborough Building Society which is offering a 4.04% two-year fixed deal with a £295 fee.

Lloyds TSB is offering a 95% Lend a Hand mortgage with a great rate of 4.34% with no fee. The catch is that a family member must deposit 20% of the value of the property into a linked savings account. The Lend a Hand Savings Account pays 2.7% AER for three and a half years, after which it will be 0.5% above the Bank of England Base Rate. 

If you want a tracker rate (which moves in line with the Bank of England base rate) HSBC offers a lifetime tracker at base rate + 3.89%, so the current rate is 4.39%. The maximum LTV is 90% and there is a £599 fee – unless you are an existing HSBC current account holder when it is fee free.

Remortgage

There are some good deals around at the moment for anyone looking to remortgage. If you are prepared to risk a raise in the base rate and could still afford your repayments if it did then there are some excellent tracker deals on the market at the moment.

HSBC is top of the pops with a two-year fixed-rate mortgage with a rate of just 1.79%. You'll need 40% equity to take advantage but it's a great rate. There is a £1,999 fee.

Those homeowners who would prefer a tracker should turn to Nationwide, which has a two-year tracker at 1.84% above the base rate – so the current rate is 2.34% – with a £999 fee, but you do need a 60% LTV. 

Buy-to-let

With so many would-be first-time buyers struggling to get on the property ladder the rental market is booming. If you are fortunate enough to be able to buy a second property and rent it out then there are some good buy-to-let mortgages on the market.

Mansfield Building Society offer a two-year buy-to-let fixed mortgage that has a rate of 3.43% with a 2% arrangement fee and a £199 booking fee. The maximum LTV is 70%. 

Offset

Anyone with some savings to set aside should consider an offset mortgage. With this type of mortgage your savings are put in a connected account to your mortgage and the balance of your savings account is used to offset the interest on your mortgage.

So, for example, if you had a £200,000 mortgage and £50,000 sat in your connecting savings account you would only pay interest on £150,000 of your mortgage. Given how low interest rates are this can be a far wiser choice than a separate savings account and mortgage.

Chelsea Building Society offers the best deal with a two-year fix at 2.09% with an arrangement fee of £1,695 and a maximum LTV of 60%.

The next best comes from Yorkshire Building Society, which is offering a rate of 2.14% for two years with a £1,495 fee. The maximum LTV on this one is also 60%.

The best tracker offset mortgage is also offered by First Direct with a rate set at 2.09% above the base rate for two years (so currently 2.59%). There is a £1,499 fee and you’ll need a minimum deposit or equity of 35%.