Britain's major high street lenders, including HSBC, Santander, and Nationwide, have started reducing mortgage rates following the Bank of England's decision to cut interest rates for the first time in over four years, from 5.25% to 5%. Homeowners with tracker mortgages, which follow the Bank's base rate, will see immediate savings, with lenders like Barclays, Metro Bank, Lloyds, Halifax, and HSBC cutting repayment costs by 25 basis points. Standard variable rate (SVR) mortgages will also see reductions, with Santander, Lloyds, and Halifax trimming their rates starting in September. Although tracker and SVR mortgages are a smaller segment of the market, analysts expect that reductions will soon benefit the 6.93 million households on fixed-rate mortgages, with Nationwide already offering a sub-4% deal on its five-year fixed rate.