Month: January 2024

More than 100,000 people are expected to see the new TVs, computers and home appliances on display throughout this week unveiled by the likes of Samsung, LG, Panasonic and Sony at the annual CES show in Las Vegas, as well as the latest car technology at a growing automotive show.
Hype for AI is on full display with many products being promoted on the back of their machine-learning capabilities.
Samsung has announced the development of the first robot that can vacuum, mop and steam clean in a single device.
The Bespoke Jet Bot Combo uses AI to detect a stain, go back to its station to heat mop pads and return to the area to steam clean. It also uses AI to map your home and identify your floor material and even give itself a clean at the end of the cycle.
None of this comes cheap. The South Korean company’s previous AI vacuum was priced at $1,300. Help with those hard-to-clean places is also on hand from the US company Kohler, with a remote-controlled bidet seat.
From Silicon Valley comes the Helix by Pivotal, a $190,000 electric one-seater “flying car” that takes off vertically and can fly 20 miles at 60mph without the need for a pilot’s licence in the US. Designed to be flown in uncontrolled airspace away from built-up areas, it is another step towards the Jetsons-like future that has been long promised by the industry, and it will be available in the US from June.
A spokesman for the Civil Aviation Authority said rules for such aircraft were being developed in the Future of Flight programme, but said that “to operate any aircraft in the UK, even privately, requires a pilot’s licence appropriate to the activity carried out”.
Another innovation award winner is the Willcook by Willtex, which is claimed to be the first portable fabric microwave bag. For those who want their lunch on the move, it heats up to 80C in five minutes using smart fibres.
The lightweight fabric, made in Japan, generates heat by drawing power from a rechargeable battery pack using stretch­able electric wires and woven conductive fibres, but does not actually use microwaves. Its temp­erature can be controlled using a smartphone and it can double up as a heated blanket or a cool bag in the summer. It will be launched in the spring for £161.
For home cooking, there is a device designed for the British summer: an indoor smoker that means you can barbeque in the kitchen. The Smart Indoor Smoker by GE Profile uses regular smoking pellets but keeps the smoke inside the appliance through filters and tight gaskets, only letting out warm air. The kitchen-top device is the size of a large microwave and can fit three racks of ribs, a whole brisket or up to 40 chicken wings. Although you may not be choking on smoke, the $1,000 price tag may stick in your throat.
Are you sick of mistyping on your iPhone or frustrated by autocorrect? Do you harbour a longing for the BlackBerry and Palm keyboards of the past? Now you can go retro and convert your Apple into a BlackBerry-style device.
Two influencers have developed a clip-on keyboard to give you that tactile feel while doubling your screen size. Clicks is the brainchild of Michael Fisher and Kevin Michaluk, known as MrMobile and CrackBerry Kevin, two popular tech reviewers with an obsession for buttons and old-school keypads. Fisher says he feels like we have “thrown the buttons out with the bathwater” by turning to touchscreen keypads that take up half of the phone screen.
iPhone users can now turn back the clock by putting their device inside a silicone case that has a 36-button keypad attached. The “creator keyboard” (pictured) is designed to appeal to nostalgics and the new generation of social media users. “Why bring back something so many consider to be obsolete? It comes down to three big things. Space, shortcuts, and sensation,” Fisher says. “The virtual keyboard takes up a ton of screen space. A space that’s hugely valuable if you’re live streaming or spreadsheeting or even typing inside a long message or documents.
“Physical keyboards give you the whole screen to work on so you can consume and create at the same time.” he says. Fisher’s YouTube channel, which has 1.5 million subscribers, features an entire section called “When phones were fun” which pays homage to early handsets from Nokia, Ericsson and Motorola that span the Noughties, all of which have physical keyboards.
The creator keyboard enables desktop shortcuts since you can press more than one button at a time and avoids the “over-reach of autocorrect”. The keyboard was developed by London-based Clicks Technology, co-founded by the duo, which boasts a former BlackBerry designer and Apple veteran among its staff and a CEO and co-founder who developed the F(x) Tec smartphone with a keyboard.
Fisher is honest about the keyboard’s drawbacks. “Clicks makes the iPhone a fair bit bigger … it also takes some getting used to,” he says, explaining it takes two days to become proficient and two weeks for the muscle memory become a rule of thumb. He also promises to address other limitations like the incompatibility with some wireless charging accessories.
Because the case plugs into the charging port, you can not use wired headphones at the same time, but you can still use a charger. It uses between 2 and 4 per cent of battery charge in a day, depending on whether its backlight feature is enabled. Clicks is initially for iPhone only, as Android phones come in numerous shapes and sizes. It costs $139-$159, plus $15 shipping and comes in two colours: BumbleBee (yellow) and London Sky (grey, obviously).
Read more:
International technology conference in Las Vegas unveils gadgets including a BlackBerry-style iPhone keyboard and portable microwave

Thousands of green street cabinets are set to be turned into electric car charging points to tackle the chronic shortage, BT has announced.
Despite nearly a million electric cars now on UK roads, there are still only 55,000 on-street charging points available.
To create more, BT said it planned to retrofit up to 60,000 street boxes that currently contain broadband and phone cables for nearby homes.
With most set to be retired due to the roll-out of full-fibre internet, the telecoms giant said they could instead fit it with two charging points.
The first charger is set to be installed in East Lothian, Scotland, in the coming weeks, with further pilots set to roll out across the UK in the months to come.
There are now 975,000 fully electric cars and 590,000 plug-in hybrid cars on UK roads.
But finding somewhere to charge them is still proving a major barrier to many, with some 55,000 public points are currently in operation across the country.
One in three motorists say they would have bought switched to electric by now if charging was less of an issue, research by BT found.
Ministers have set a target of 300,000 charging points by 2030 and have invested £2bn to rapidly expand the existing infrastructure.
The government is aiming to ensure everyone in the UK has access to superfast full fibre internet by 2030.
It means the existing green cabinets, which house the traditional copper cables for broadband, are gradually being decommissioned.
BT said they had found a way to retrofit them while still in use so the existing power connection can also be shared with a vehicle charging point. There is then space for another charging point once it is fully retired.
Rishi Sunak recently delayed the ban on new petrol cars by five years to 2035 over concerns the UK wasn’t ready for the switch.
In December, the Government said the charging infrastructure had grown 42 per cent on the previous year – and was ‘well on the way’ to reaching its target.
A BT survey however found 60 per cent of respondents said Britain’s EV infrastructure was ‘inadequate’.
A further 78 per cent of petrol and diesel drivers said not being able to conveniently charge an EV is a barrier to getting one.
With a third of UK homes not having access to off-street parking, often in cities and town centres, on-street charging is seen as crucial for the roll out of electric cars.
The initiative by BT Group’s start-up and digital incubator Etc. has been recognised globally. The Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas has awarded it an ‘Innovation Honoree’ for outstanding design and engineering at this year’s event, taking place this week.
Tom Guy, chief executive of Etc., said: ‘Our new charging solution is a huge step in bringing EV charging kerbside and exploring how we can address key barriers customers are currently facing.
‘Working closely with local councils in Scotland and more widely across the UK, we are at a critical stage of our journey in tackling a very real customer problem that sits at the heart of our wider purpose to connect for good.’
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BT set to repurpose thousands of green ‘street cabinets’ into electric car charging points to tackle ‘chronic shortage’

Two million more people will be claiming disability benefits by the end of the decade as mental health problems help to push the cost to taxpayers up by more than 50 per cent.
Official forecasts predict that spending on disability benefits will rise by £17 billion a year, to £48 billion in current prices, and there are warnings that spending is running out of control. Depression and anxiety are now the leading reasons for adults to receive such benefits, and the ageing population means that more people are also struggling with joint and back pain.
Britain’s ill health is becoming increasingly expensive and will leave the government struggling to find room for tax cuts or money to spend on other public services, experts have warned.
More than four million people of working age are also predicted to start claiming separate incapacity benefits before the end of the decade, despite the government’s back-to-work drive having reduced numbers by 370,000.
Forecasts from the Department for Work and Pensions show the number on sickness benefits increasing steadily from 3.2 million last year and spending rising from £23.2 billion to £31 billion in current prices by 2028-29.
However, less attention has been paid to separate disability benefits, which are paid regardless of whether someone can work to compensate them for the costs of chronic conditions. The 5.5 million present recipients are forecast to increase to 7.6 million, about one in nine of the population, and spending to increase from £31.1 billion last year to £48 billion in 2028-29 in current prices. The 2.4 million working-age people now receiving disability benefits will rise to 3.7 million.
This will mean taxpayers spending almost £80 billion a year on benefits linked to ill health, about half the present annual cost of the NHS.
New claims for the main disability benefit, known as personal independence payments (Pip), have doubled since the pandemic and are now running at a record level of more than 40,000 a month. Sam Ray-Chaudhuri, a research economist at the Institute for Fiscal Studies, said that the huge post-Covid increase “doesn’t look to be doing away. As these forecasts show, without policy change there will be significantly increased spending.”
He said that the £17 billion extra on disability benefits was “a very significant increase,” adding: “The government’s 2p National Insurance cut was around £9 to £10 billion, so that is the order of magnitude we are talking about, which is what you need to support another two million people.”
The costs were “definitely something that is going to apply pressure to the government”, he said, as both the Conservatives and Labour looked for ways to bring down a record tax burden.
Ray-Chaudhuri also warned of a “big risk” from longer-term government reforms that will allow people to keep incapacity benefits while returning to work. “A side-effect of this change will be you’ll load even more spending on to this [disability] side of the system, which seems to be almost getting out of control,” he said.
Pip payments give people up to £172.75 a week if they struggle with everyday tasks such as washing and dressing, mixing with other people or leaving the house. Mental health problems and learning disabilities now account for £6.7 billion of annual spending on Pip for adults. Anxiety and depression are the most expensive single class of condition, at £1.6 billion a year, more than ten times the figure when the benefit was introduced a decade ago.
Arthritis, back pain and other conditions strongly linked to an ageing population now cost about £3.3 billion a year.
In children, who mostly receive a separate disability benefit known as disability living allowance, learning and behavioural difficulties and other mental health problems now cost £2.8 billion a year.
Officials believe that the trends are driven by an older and sicker population, as well as by greater awareness of mental health problems and a cost of living crisis that is driving more people to claim support.
A government source said: “The drivers of rising disability benefit spending are complex. Changing attitudes to mental health, the shadow of Covid and inflation are all involved.” They added: “This government isn’t afraid to take long-term decisions on welfare reform. Labour won’t go near this stuff.”
David Finch of the Health Foundation think tank said there was evidence from a range of sources both that people were more aware of mental health conditions and that illness was getting worse. “The pandemic did lead to an increase in people reporting mental health conditions and then you’ve had the cost of living crisis, and those things have exacerbated an underlying trend,” he said.
Reductions in other benefits and cost of living pressures may also have pushed more people to claim, he said. “People who maybe could have coped before on other benefits and may not have thought of claiming disability elements, and may not have thought of themselves as disabled, may think ‘actually, I do need that extra support now’.”
Finch said that better NHS mental health and preventative services would head off problems earlier, and more generous, wider benefits would stop so many people needing to claim disability benefits. Although this would be expensive, Finch said, “it becomes more expensive when you’re trying to tackle the consequences of the problem rather than taking a more upstream approach of preventing the problems in the first place”.
Pip claims may be reviewed only every ten years and Sir Steve Webb, a partner at the consultants LCP, said that people “get stuck on benefits, often for many years”, pointing out that the number of pensioners receiving the benefit was growing faster than the number of younger adults.
As the latest figures show a quarter of a million more people forecast to start receiving disability benefits than was expected less than a year ago, Webb said: “Previous projections for the growth in numbers on disability benefits were shocking enough, but the latest upward revision is even more startling.
“The fastest growing groups are often those who have been on benefit for five years or more, and it is very hard to see what will now lead these people to end their claim. Far more needs to be done to intervene early, both by preventing the need for a claim and by engaging with people early in a claim to avoid them getting stuck on benefits for the long term, which is neither in their interests nor those of the taxpayer,”
A spokesman for the Department of Work and Pensions said that the government would “tear down barriers for millions by removing the fear of reassessment for claimants trying work”, adding: “We are investing £2.3 billion into mental health services and taking long-term decisions on welfare reform that will grow the economy and change lives.”
Read more:
Millions set to claim disability benefits as mental illness and long covid soars

UKEF has partnered with other export credit agencies and MUFG as sole Mandated Lead Arranger to secure over €1.2 billion in financing for a sustainable railway project.
The financing package comprises a €1.027 billion loan guaranteed by ECAs and a separate €220 million commercial loan facility supported in part by the Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit (ICIEC). MUFG was appointed the sole mandated lead arranger, coordinator, structurer and agent bank by the Turkish Ministry of Treasury and Finance.
UKEF guaranteed the ECA facility, with Italian (SACE), Polish (KUKE) and Austrian (OeKB) counterparts providing significant reinsurance. ICIEC provided insurance to several of the commercial lenders.
UKEF is an export credit agency operating at no net cost to the UK taxpayer. Its involvement secures substantial opportunities for UK firms, which are expected to supply steel, pipes and other equipment.
The financing allows Turkey’s Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure – acting through the General Directorate of Infrastructural Investment (AYGM) – to develop 140km of low-carbon electric railway between Yerköy and Kayseri.
The new railway line will help the country to expand its low-carbon rail network, reduce road congestion and cut net emissions on the Yerköy-Kayseri route by over 6,500 tonnes of CO2e per year. Connecting to the Ankara-Sivas line which opened in April 2023, the new route is also expected to support regional economic growth by increasing regional passenger and freight rail capacity around Turkey’s capital region.
The announcement comes as UK Secretary of State for Business and Trade Kemi Badenoch visits Turkey to strengthen business links.
Kemi Badenoch, UK Business and Trade Secretary, said: “I’m delighted to be in Turkey ahead of talks to upgrade our existing trade deal to make it fit for the 21st century.
“With its major economy and strategic position, Turkey presents huge opportunities for UK businesses. And I’m excited to start discussions on ensuring our new trading relationship with Turkey unlocks those opportunities.”
The project will be delivered by a joint venture between Turkish contractors Doğuş İnşaat, Çelikler and Özkar. Doğuş, Çelikler and Özkar were also main contractors for the newly opened Ankara-Sivas High Speed Railway.
This is the third high-speed railway project which UKEF, SACE and OeKB have jointly backed in Turkey, with their support now helping to lay more than 900km of track for a more sustainable rail network.
Christopher Marks, Managing Director, Head of Portfolio Solutions, Innovative Finance & Growth Markets for EMEA, MUFG, said: “This transaction demonstrates MUFG’s long-term commitment to Türkiye. We are proud to have worked with the Republic of Türkiye on this landmark financing. We continue to work with public sector and sponsor clients to deliver such innovative financing solutions that propel their transition plans for a more sustainable future. We are pleased to have successfully delivered a blended finance solution, with ongoing support from the ECAs and ICIEC, that aligns the financing to the Green Use of Proceeds criteria set by the Republic of Türkiye’s Sustainable Finance Framework.”
Tolga Akkaş, Chairman of the Board from Doguş Çelikler Özkar JV, added: “We are honoured to be entrusted as the main contractor for the Yerköy-Kayseri High-Speed Railway project, advancing the sustainable rail infrastructure in Türkiye. As one of the contractors for the Ankara-Sivas High-Speed Railway project, inaugurated in April 2023, we are eager to bring our expertise to the Yerköy-Kayseri route. The adoption of high-speed rail technology inherently leads to a more energy-efficient and eco-friendly mode of transportation compared to traditional alternatives. This project features not only a significant stride in Türkiye’s railway network but also connecting communities, driving economic prosperity, and fostering sustainable development.”
“This impactful transaction is made possible through the collaborative efforts of esteemed partners such as UK Export Finance and MUFG. We express our sincere gratitude for their unwavering commitment to supporting initiatives that contribute to the sustainable development of countries.”
Marcus Dolman, Vice President of the British Exporters Association (BExA), noted: “This deal demonstrates continued support for the development of the Turkish rail network. The UKEF guarantee offers a huge boost to UK exporters looking to increase, or start, their export portfolio under a secure umbrella. Deals of this type are essential to increase the UK supply chains of large overseas contractors. BExA congratulates UKEF on this transaction and their continued support for UK exports.”
 
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MUFG and export credit agencies unlock €1.2bn financing for Turkish electric railway

Houthi rebel disruptions reaching the Straits of Hormuz could double oil prices, Goldman Sachs has warned.
In an interview the head of the company’s oil research division Daan Struyven said: “the Red Sea is a transit route and a prolonged disruption there, oil can be three or four dollars higher.
“However if you have a disruption in the Strait of Hormuz for a month, [oil] prices would rise by 20 per cent and could even eventually double if the disruption there lasted for longer,” he said.
Despite caveating that the situation was “highly unlikely”, Struyven’s comments join a collective of voices from across international business and politics decrying the situation in recent days.
Yesterday, former prime minister now foreign secretary David Cameron said in an interview to Sky News that the attacks “have to stop”.
“This is not just a British interest, it is global,” he said.
“The clear message, and over ten countries have signed a letter to the Houthis saying that these attacks are illegal and have got to stop and if they don’t, action will be taken.”
Since November, the rebels have attacked commercial shipping in the Red Sea more than 20 times using missiles, drones, fast boats and helicopters.
In response, the U.S. in December announced Operation Prosperity Guardian to step up patrols of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden to protect commercial traffic – ships from the UK, Australia and Canada are among the other countries also involved.
Early-mid December saw the occasional minor oil price spike as a result of the actions, but the volatility has remained largely subdued as the wider market remains soft.
More significantly however has been the reaction of major shippers to the protective responses such as Prosperity Guardian.
Maersk and Hapag Lloyd, two of Europe’s largest shipping companies, have refused to use the Red Sea and Suez Canal routes, the former having had a vessel come under attack from rebels last weekend.
What began as seemingly isolated disruptions to Western commercial activities are now being seen by many to constitute targeted action in support of the Hamas cause as Israel continues to ramp up its attacks on Palestine.
Should they continue, they are likely to throw the already-chaotic state of global shipping in that area into further strife.
Read more:
Oil prices could double if Red Sea shipping attacks continue warns Goldman Sachs

House prices have stopped falling and are rising again, according to a closely watched report from the mortgage lender Halifax.
The average property price last month rose by 1.1 per cent in December. It was the third monthly rise in a row and well above economists’ forecasts of a 0.1 per cent increase.
After a weak spring and summer, the strong end to the year means that house prices rose by 1.7 per cent in 2023 to an average of £287,105, almost £5,000 more than this time last year. Entering 2023, most economists had predicted that prices would fall by between 5 per cent and 10 per cent, possibly more, across the year.
Kim Kinnaird, director of Halifax Mortgages, said the surprise increase in prices probably reflected “a shortage of properties on the market, rather than the strength of buyer demand”.
The property market in Northern Ireland was the strongest of any UK region last year, with prices there improving 4.1 per cent across 2023 to an average of £192,153. Prices in Scotland, the northwest of England and Yorkshire also rose year-on-year.
By contrast, the southeast, where homes are dearest, came under most pressure, with prices declining 4.5 per cent in 2023.
When viewed alongside a similar monthly index from Nationwide, another big high street lender, Halifax’s data suggests a stabilisation in the housing market after a sustained downturn brought on by sharply higher mortgage rates. Between October 2022 and August 2023, Nationwide calculated that prices fell in nearly every month, before starting to pick up towards the end of last year, albeit modestly. Halifax’s metric recorded price falls for six straight months up until October, since when it thinks prices have consistently risen.
Imogen Pattison, assistant economist at Capital Economics, said the latest data from Halifax “confirms that falls in mortgage rates are translating into renewed increases in house prices”.
In contrast to Halifax, Nationwide still has prices as being 1.8 per cent lower year-on-year. Pattison attributed the difference to Halifax’s index being “more sensitive” to changes in mortgage rates and expects the Nationwide index “to play catch up over the coming months”.
House prices boomed during the pandemic, as a combination of cheap money, stamp duty holidays and the lockdown-induced “race for space” pushed many to look for somewhere new to live. The jump in mortgage rates that followed the mini-budget in the autumn of 2022, however, sent the market into reverse. Almost immediately housebuilders and estate agents reported a sudden and sharp drop-off in demand.
Such was the strength of the market in 2021 and 2022, though, that Halifax estimates that prices remain almost £50,000 higher, on average, than before the pandemic erupted.
The financial markets are betting that the Bank of England, and other central banks, are unlikely to raise interest rates much further. Mortgage lenders have responded this week by cutting their own rates.
Reflecting that, and the probability that the government will bring in some sort of support for first-time buyers before the general election, Anthony Codling, a housing industry analyst at RBC, expects prices to rise again in 2024. “Our pessimism was misplaced in 2023, and we don’t want to make the same mistake twice,” he said.
Similarly, Pattison had predicted that prices would fall 1.5 per cent this year, but she now thinks they will increase by 3 per cent. “The drop in average quoted mortgage rates from 5.9 per cent in July 2023 to just over 4 per cent now will improve affordability meaning demand from mortgaged buyers will continue to recover,” she said.
Kinnaird is less certain, predicting a fall of between 2 per cent and 4 per cent this year, although she noted that “forecast uncertainty remains high given the current economic climate”.
Read more:
House prices started to rise again in 2023, says Halifax

One of the world’s largest insurance companies has been forced to pay thousands of pounds in interest to small businesses whose Covid insurance payout claims were delayed.
The QBE Group’s initial payout just before Christmas of more than £386,000 to 86 companies raises the potential for a total outlay by insurers of up to £1.6bn in interest to customers, it is claimed.
About 60 insurers have been accused of unfairly delaying making payouts on business interruption policies to 370,000 small businesses, from restaurants and bars to hairdressers and guesthouses.
Last year, the UK’s financial ombudsman ruled that an 8% annual rate of interest should be paid on the sum, pro rata, roughly covering the period between the claim being declined and it being actually paid.
The payment by the QBE Group of £386,215 to the clients of the loss assessor is said to be a key step towards thousands more businesses receiving similar payouts.
Jeff Salmon, chief executive of Salmon Assessors, said his clients had suffered two years of injustice and that others should come forward to make claims.
“To say this was a ‘David and Goliath scenario’ is an understatement,” he said. “It was an uphill slog, with the insurers seemingly purposely procrastinating every step of the way.”
About 370,000 small businesses made insurance claims after the coronavirus lockdowns left them unable to trade. Many of those policyholders had their claims initially declined on the grounds that the business interruption policies were not designed to cover a government-imposed lockdown.
In 2020, the high court found in favour of policyholders after the Financial Conduct Authority brought a test case to court, but six of the eight insurers named in the case, Arch Insurance, Argenta, Hiscox, MS Amlin, QBE and RSA, appealed.
It was not until the supreme court ruled in the policyholders’ favour in 2021 that some claims were paid out.
Businesses then sought compensation for the delays in payments. In a key case, the financial ombudsman ruled that a dental practice whose claim had been initially declined but later approved should be paid interest by its insurer, QBE.
The company had subsequently sought further clarification of the ruling but paid up just before Christmas. Salmon said that every policyholder should now claim interest from their insurance company if the claim was delayed.
With QBE paying out £4,500 on average in interest to each claimant, the total potential cost to the insurance industry was said by Salmon to be more than £1.6bn.
A spokesperson for QBE said: “Covid-19 business interruption claims can be very complex. As such, the claims handling process is sometimes unavoidably lengthened. Naturally, QBE always ensures that we comply with all our regulatory and legal obligations related to these claims, that we consider our customers’ particular circumstances and that we handle the claims in as timely a manner as possible.”
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Insurer forced to pay thousands of pounds to small firms hit by Covid payout delays

HSBC has become the first leading bank to cut mortgage rates below 4 per cent as a new year price war between lenders gathers pace.
The bank cut rates by up to 0.85 percentage points on Wednesday, releasing a five-year fixed rate at 3.94 per cent for customers coming off their existing deals. The reduction would save someone with a £200,000 25-year mortgage £96 a month — £1,152 a year — in repayments.
It also released a two-year fix at 4.49 per cent, the first time since June that a two-year deal has been available at below 4.5 per cent.
The rate cuts put the bank at the top of the best buy tables and come after Halifax and Leeds Building Society cut mortgage rates on Tuesday by up to 0.92 percentage points.
David Hollingworth from the mortgage broker L&C said: “These cuts are just the latest salvo in an increasingly fast-moving market and others will be bound to follow suit. We thought 2024 would start with a bang and that’s proving to be the case.”
Generation Home and the specialist lender Bluestone Mortgages also said on Wednesday that they would cut mortgage rates while First Direct, HSBC’s sister bank, will also make large reductions on Friday.
Many of the cuts so far this week have been particularly big because some banks did not make any reductions just before Christmas to avoid being swamped by demand from borrowers, so they need to catch up.
The cuts are also being driven by fierce competition in a mortgage market that is expected to be smaller than previous years, plus expectations that the Bank of England base rate might soon be cut from 5.25 per cent.
“The pressure is on the other leading lenders to lower rates,” Aaron Strutt from the mortgage broker Trinity Financial said. “Banks and building societies want to lend more money and they understand the negative effect these higher rates have on the property market and wider economy.
“Lenders will be working out their strategies for the year and trying to figure out how to boost their lending figures, which in many cases were shockingly low last year. Many borrowers have been holding off remortgaging or purchasing a property because of high rates, so new sub-4 per cent fixes should give them a bit more confidence to refinance or get on the property ladder.”
Some 1.6 million homeowners are due to come to the end of their fixed-rate deals this year, the trade association UK Finance said, most of whom were previously on rates of 2.5 per cent or below.
Those people still face paying more when they remortgage, but rates falling from their highs last summer when the cheapest deals were between 5.5 and 6 per cent will take out some of the sting.
Rates have steadily fallen over the last three months on the back of a sharp fall in the rate of inflation, which went from 8.7 per cent for the year to May to 3.9 per cent in November. This has been followed by widespread expectations that there will soon be a cut in Bank rate, which went from its record low of 0.1 per cent in December 2021 to 5.25 per cent in August last year as the Bank of England tried to tame inflation.
Bank policymakers, including Andrew Bailey, the governor, have stressed that it will need to remain at this level for an extended period to ensure inflation returns to the 2 per cent target. But most of the 41 economists polled by The Times expect at least two cuts to Bank rate this year because inflation has fallen faster than expected.
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Mortgage rates cut as new year price war intensifies

SpaceX has launched the first set of Starlink satellites capable of providing network coverage directly from space to standard smartphones in a service designed to eliminate global “dead zones”.
Elon Musk’s space business signed deals with a series of wireless carriers in 2022 to launch the service: T-Mobile US confirmed yesterday that the first six satellites were in low-Earth orbit after being deployed from a Falcon 9 rocket.
The direct-to-cell service will begin with text messaging, with data and voice calls added from 2025. Canadian operator Rogers, Australia’s Optus, KDDI from Japan and One New Zealand have also signed up.
Dr Sara Spangelo, director of satellite engineering at SpaceX, said the launch was “an exciting milestone” for the company to demonstrate its technology, which would be scaled up “rapidly” with partner operators around the world.
The company said that more than half a million square miles in the US alone, and vast stretches of ocean around the planet, are unreachable by terrestrial network coverage.
Mike Katz, at T-Mobile US, said: “This is another step forward in keeping our customers connected even in the most remote locations as we work to make dead zones a thing of the past.”
SpaceX’s high frequency and relatively low cost has made it the world’s dominant launch company. Musk, its founder and chief executive, claimed that it had carried 80 per cent of all the mass lifted into orbit last year.
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SpaceX puts direct-to-phone Starlink satellites in orbit to eliminate smartphone ‘dead zones’