Abbey Mortgage

Mortgage rates in the UK continue to be cut by lenders.

Abbey, Britain's largest mortgage firm, has become the latest to announce a new round of rate cuts, with fixed and variable rates dropping by up to 0.6 percent. However, these new rates will only be available to those buyers with initial deposits of 15 percent or more.

Over recent weeks, other mortgage firms including HBOS and Barclays have also moved to make their loans cheaper. Reductions in the rates at which banks lend to each other has eased revenue worries at the lenders and therefore allows them to reduce consumer mortgages.

The moves represent further good news for Britain's homebuyers, who have also been boosted by the government's recent announcement that stamp duty for properties worth £175,000 or less would be scrapped for a year. However, mortgage lending as a whole remains sluggish, with many potential buyers remaining discouraged by falling house prices.