Mortgage rates are as much based on future expectations by the finance industry as it is on current market trends, and if the news coming out of Virgin and HSBC this week is anything to go by then they are expecting a healthy future for the industry.

For the first time since the Autumn budget, which was a hectic time to say the lease, HSBC and Virgin have offered 5-year mortgage deals at a sub-4% rate, substantially below the average of 5.63% at the start of January.

From the outside looking in, it seems a big effect on the current rental stock crisis has been landlords withdrawing from the market due to the increase in costs across the board, one of which was the mortgage rates rising.

Hopefully, despite the outlook last year being gloomy at best we can start to see some light at the end of the tunnel, and for those willing to hold on for a bit longer, maybe a return to something like normality!