Fixed rate mortgages have risen again, according to a recent report from thisismoney.co.uk. The report highlights recent rate hikes from High Street lenders, as well as from buy-to-let specialist Bradford & Bingley.

Other mortgage lenders like Abbey, Nationwide and Alliance & Leicester are on the same page as B&B, having recently responded to rising costs on money markets with rate hikes of their own.

“We have reviewed our rates in some areas to ensure we are writing sustainable and high quality mortgage business,” an Abby spokesperson recently explained. “The last two weeks has seen a volatile swaps market, which is still feeding through. It is likely that while the mortgage market remains volatile, we will continue to see frequent changes to rates.”

The thisismoney.co.uk report quoted Council of Mortgage Lenders figures which suggest that homeowners who took-out a typical two-year fixed rate deal in June 2006 would have been paying a rate of 5.05 per cent. Today, according to reports from thisismoney.co.uk and Moneyfacts, the same average two-year fixed rate deal would require a payment rate of close to 6 per cent, along with a fee of £1,000 or more.

Between an increase in “swap rates” and the price-tag linked to fixed rate lenders on money markets, the price hikes are inevitable, according to the thisismoney.co.uk report. In conjunction with inflation in Europe and the UK, swap rates have increased by over 0.5 per cent. The recent move by B&B to raise mortgage rates has been tied to what B&B describes as a natural reaction to today’s market conditions. The lender – which is the largest in the UK buy-to-let arena – dismissed suggestions that the hikes were in any way related to recent warnings of dips in profits and shares.

B&B has announced that rates will increase by between 0.05 per cent and 0.55 per cent on its standard residential, buy-to-let and self-certification mortgages. The rate changes will mean that a fee increase of between 0.2 per cent and 6.49 per cent will be applied for individuals who purchase a two-year residential fixed rate loan with a 75% deposit and a payment of £999.

In addition fixed rate deals offered in B&B’s buy-to-let sector are increasing by 0.55 per cent, and variables have been hiked by 0.45 per cent.

The staggering changes within B&B's buy-to-let structure are still congruent with recent decisions made by Nationwide Building Society. The latter lender raised its fixed rate mortgages by up to 0.3 per cent. Alliance & Leicester has also raised its rates by between 0.05 per cent and 0.25 per cent.

In a similar position, Abbey also recently revealed that increased rates will be applied to its two and three-year fixed rate loans for consumers with a 15 per cent deposit or less. Abbey has further announced increases of between 0.07 per cent and 0.26 per cent to its five-year fixed deals.