Homebuyers holding out for cheaper fixed-rate mortgage deals were on Friday urged not to wait as some lenders raised rates on their best buys or withdrew them after this week's surprise news of a spike in inflation.
Only a fortnight ago, many mortgage pundits were forecasting even cheaper fixed deals later this year after the Bank of England's decision to cut base rates by a quarter of a percentage point to 4.50 per cent.
Now, this week's surprise announcement from the Bank that core inflation was at its highest for a decade has led many to doubt the chance of another cut in the short term.
Melanie Bien, associate director with Savills Private Finance, said swap rates - the rates banks charge to lend money to each other - had risen in recent weeks, affecting the price of some fixed rate deals.
Ms Bien said the inflation news meant lenders were less likely to allow for another base rate cut this year and could raise borrowing rates.
"Lenders are starting to pull their fixed rates and replace them with higher priced deals," said Ms Bien.
"This isn't good news for those who need the certainty of set monthly mortgage repayments, so if you are in that position you would be wise to fix sooner rather than later."
This week Newcastle building society withdrew its market leading two-year fix at 4.22 per cent. Abbey replaced its two fixes with deals that were 0.1 to 0.15 percentage points higher.
Northern Rock and West Bromwich building societies put their fixed rates on notice, meaning those deals can be quickly withdrawn. Last week, Portman raised its five-year fix from 4.45 per cent to 4.59 per cent.
Ray Boulger, senior technical adviser with John Charcol, the mortgage broker, said it was likely other large lenders would follow suit.
"More lenders are taking the view that swap rates aren't going to come down in the short term," he said.
Yet there was evidence of lenders bucking the trend, including Hinckley and Rugby building society, which this week launched a market-leading two-year fix at 4.19 per cent.
However, David Hollingworth of London & Country brokers said he did not believe Hinckley's deal would be matched, as it was likely the building society had either secured funding before the rise in swap rates or was after volume by getting on the best-buy tables.
Meanwhile, Moneyfacts, the independent financial data provider, said on Friday that of the 65 mortgage lenders that had changed their rates since the base rate was cut on August 4, 51 had passed on the full quarter-point reduction to customers on standard variable rate deals.
