National Irish Bank and AIB this week announced further reductions in their mortgage interest rates in line with the latest change in the European Central Bank base rate, which now stands at 3.75 per cent.

All rates for one, two, three, four and five-year fixed terms from National Irish Bank will drop to 4.99 per cent and the standard variable rate will decrease to 5.25 per cent for existing mortgage holders.

AIB's standard variable mortgage rate is now a very competitive 4.75 per cent. Its one-year fixed rate has been lowered to 4.2 per cent and the three-year fixed rate is now 4.99 per cent.

National Irish Bank's ECB Tracker Tailored Home Loan, which guarantees a rate of 0.99 per cent above the ECB rate for the life of the loan, has already been reduced from 5.24 to 4.74 per cent.