Santander is the latest of the big lenders to withdraw its mortgages temporarily as banks and building societies face huge demand.

Many house buyers are applying for mortgages ahead of an expected Bank of England decision to raise interest rates again next week.

The move by Santander to temporarily suspend all residential and buy-to-let fixed and tracker rates from 7.30pm last night until tomorrow, follows HSBC doing the same thing last week.

Other lenders such as NatWest, Nationwide and Halifax have raised rates, although TSB bucked the trend by lowering its prices.

Under control

The Bank of England is widely expected to increase the base interest rate from its current level at 4.5% in a further attempt to keep inflation under control.

Michelle Lawson, director at Lawson Financial, says: “I’m really not surprised about this announcement from Santander to be fair.

TSB have announced today that they are actually reducing rates, which is promising.”

“As products are not going to be launched until Wednesday, hopefully Santander will reprice for the longer term as TSB have announced today that they are actually reducing rates, which is promising.”

Three-month low

Mortgage offers hit a three-month low last week with 200 fewer mortgage packages on offer, in a 4% fall to the lowest number since mid-March.

Many first-time buyers are applying for mortgages of 35 years or even longer in an effort to lower the monthly payments.

Data from banking trade group UK Finance recently showed a record number of buyers taking out 35-year mortgages.