THE PROPERTY FILTER TAKE
Shawbrook cut rates on selected buy-to-let products on 6 October, by up to 25bps on SB2 five-year fixes for loans of £250,000 to £1m.
On a hypothetical £400,000 interest-only loan that gets the full 25bps, interest falls by £1,000 a year. The cut came the day after the average five-year residential fix hit 6% (Moneyfacts, 5 October).
What I'd do with this information: consider asking your broker for Shawbrook's current SB2 rate sheet before any refinance due in the next year.
Shawbrook cut buy-to-let rates on selected products on 6 October (Mortgage Strategy, 6 October 2026). The cuts include up to 25bps on its SB2 five-year fixes for loans of £250,000 to £1m. A basis point (bp) is one hundredth of a percentage point, so 25bps is 0.25%. And it came one day after the average five-year residential fix hit 6%.
What did Shawbrook change on its buy-to-let range?
According to Mortgage Strategy (6 October 2026), SB2 five-year fixed buy-to-let rates fell by up to 25bps for loans between £250,000 and £1m. For loans between £1m and £2.5m, the reduction was up to 10bps. SB2 is one of Shawbrook's named product ranges; the report does not set out what separates it from SB1.
It was not a cut across the board. Shawbrook also increased rates on selected SB1 products and made changes to some of its two-, three- and 10-year fixes, the same report said. The lender said the updated range is open to clients purchasing, remortgaging or reviewing their existing finance.
The report gives no actual rate levels. So the ceiling of the cut is known and the starting point is not. That is why the rate sheet matters, and our guides to mortgage finance and broker negotiation cover what to ask for.
From a portfolio perspective, here is the scale. Take a hypothetical £400,000 interest-only loan (you pay the interest each month, not the capital). If it received the full 25bps, annual interest falls by £1,000, or about £83 a month. Over a five-year fix, that is £5,000 before fees. A loan that received a smaller cut saves proportionally less. You can test your own figures in our free buy-to-let stress test calculator.
Why does a quarter-point cut matter when averages are rising?
Moneyfacts put the average five-year residential fix at 6.00% on Monday 5 October, up from 5.98% the previous Friday (PA report via The Irish News, 5 October 2026). That was its highest level since 27 September 2023, when it stood at 6.03%. The average two-year fix was 5.98% the same morning.
The cheaper end has almost gone. Moneyfacts counted sub-5% fixed deals falling from 1,494 at the start of September to just nine on 5 October, excluding Northern Ireland-only deals. The same report tied the rises to swap rates (the wholesale rates lenders use to price fixed mortgages).
But those are homeowner averages, not buy-to-let averages. One lender trimming selected rates on larger loans is a pricing gap, not a turn in the cycle. If you hold 5 to 12 properties with refinances coming up, I would test that gap against your wider property investment strategy rather than plan around it.
What happened to Foundation's 90% LTV products?
Foundation Home Loans set 5.30pm on 7 October to withdraw its 90% LTV residential products, Mortgage Strategy reported on 6 October. LTV (loan to value) is the loan as a share of the property's value. These are residential mortgages, not buy-to-let. Mortgage Strategy said lower rates would replace them the following day, but gave no new rates.
Brokers wanting to secure the outgoing products had to submit a decision in principle (DIP, a lender's provisional yes) by 5.30pm on 7 October. DIPs submitted in time stayed valid for two working days, until 5.30pm on 9 October, to become a full mortgage application (FMA). Both deadlines have now passed, and an unconverted DIP is no longer valid.
One rule still bites. Application and valuation fees must be paid within three working days of submitting each FMA, or the application lapses at 5.30pm on the third working day. That clock runs from each application's own submission date, so you may wish to confirm with your broker where any live case stands.
Key takeaways
Shawbrook cut SB2 five-year buy-to-let fixes by up to 25bps for loans of £250,000 to £1m on 6 October, and by up to 10bps for £1m to £2.5m.
Shawbrook also increased rates on selected SB1 products the same day, so this was not a range-wide cut.
The Mortgage Strategy report gives no actual Shawbrook rate levels, so the rate sheet is the only way to see the starting point.
On a hypothetical £400,000 interest-only loan, the full 25bps is worth £1,000 a year, or about £83 a month.
Moneyfacts put the average five-year residential fix at 6.00% on 5 October 2026, its highest since 27 September 2023.
Frequently asked questions
How much did Shawbrook cut its buy-to-let rates?
Did every Shawbrook buy-to-let rate go down?
What does a 25bps cut save on a buy-to-let loan?
Are Foundation's 90% LTV products buy-to-let mortgages?
