Barclays has increased their mortgage rates, and it’s bad news if you’re looking for a bargain. Some of the bank’s loans are no longer available below 4%.

Several of Barclays’ residential purchase and remortgage deals have increased. These are the details:

Purchase-only mortgages:

• Two-year fixes: The interest rate for Premier two-year fixes, with a £899 product fee, at 60% loan-to-value (LTV), has increased from 3.87% to 4.07%.
• Two-year fixes: The rate for two-year fixes, with a £899 product fee, at 60% LTV, has gone up from 3.90% to 4.10%.
• Five-year fixes: The rate for five-year fixes, with no product fee, at 60% LTV, has risen from 3.92% to 4.12%.

Remortgage-only mortgages:

• Two-year fixes: The rate for Premier two-year fixes, with a £999 product fee, at 60% LTV, has increased from 3.96% to 4.16%.
• Five-year fixes: The rate for five-year fixes, with a £999 product fee, at 75% LTV, has gone up from 3.98% to 4.18%.

Purchase and remortgage mortgages:

• Two-year fixes: The rate for two-year fixes, with a £1,999 product fee, at 60% LTV, has increased from 3.99% to 4.19%.
• Five-year fixes: The rate for five-year fixes, with a £1,999 product fee, at 75% LTV, has gone up from 3.98% to 4.18%.

So what does this all mean?

Basically, if you’re looking to buy a house or remortgage your existing one, it’s going to cost you more.

Nicholas Mendes, mortgage technical manager at John Charcol, thinks Barclays has increased its rates because of “service levels and managing business volumes” rather than swap rate movements.

In plain English, this means that Barclays has been inundated with applications and needs to slow things down a bit.

Mendes reckons other lenders might wait to see what happens in the upcoming budget before making any big decisions.