Barclays bank have been the latest bank to raise the price of their fixed rate mortgages for new customers, the bank which sell their mortgages under the Woolwich brand  have raised it rates by as much as 0.7 of a percentage point. Barclays have said they have had to raise rates to stem the flow of new business after a series of increases by other lenders.

The hard facts according the Telegraph newspaper read like this, “Barclays is raising rates by between 0.2 and 0.7 of a percentage point. On a two-year fixed-rate mortgage for those borrowing 70pc of the property's value, the rate will rise by 0.2 of a point from 3.99pc to 4.19pc. But on a similar loan for people borrowing 80pc of the property value, the rate will rise from 5.29pc to 5.99pc.”

A spokesman for Barclays said: "The cost of mortgage funding has been pushed up recently, with Barclays being one of only a handful of lenders still offering competitive mortgages.

"In light of our competitors moving their rates upwards in the last few days, we have seen a massive demand for our mortgages, and so in order to control the flow of business we have had to adjust our mortgage range in line with the marketplace."