Yep, a highly competitive market with a properly functioning mechanism for resolving defaulting loans will result in lower average mortgage rates overall. Who knew?
What's interesting is that the average SVR in the UK currently stands at 4.51%, which is marginally higher than the average SVR here in Ireland.
Refinancing (switching) is much more common in the UK, even though refinancing often attracts fees and charges, in addition to valuation and legal costs. In contrast, many Irish lenders offer generous incentives to switchers. The level of borrower inertia in the Irish mortgage market, coupled with high default rates, would appear to explain our high overall rates.