Lenders began increasing rates in October ahead of an anticipated move by the Bank of England to raise its Base Rate the following month. The rise never materialised, but banks have continued to make mortgages more expensive in the weeks since.

Fixed-rate sub-1pc mortgages have now almost disappeared, according to financial analysts Moneyfacts, falling from 131 to 10 in two months. 

Ms Bhudia added: “The mortgage war has gone into reverse. The Bank of England’s repeated signals that rates will soon be moving up means everybody wants to lock in a new rate. 

“No lender wants to be the cheapest on the high street for fear of being completely swamped with applications. They clearly want to avoid a repeat of 2020, when they were inundated in the post-lockdown boom and unable to maintain service levels.”

She warned some large lenders were still taking 15 days to act on a new application, which is much longer than pre-pandemic wait times. 

The average rate on a two-year fixed mortgage has increased from 2.25pc at the beginning of October to 2.33pc this week. Likewise, the average five-year fixed rate has jumped from 2.55pc to 2.62pc. 

A notable exception to this trend are the increasingly cheap mortgage rates for first-time buyers, which have now fallen to below pre-pandemic prices. The average two-year fixed-rate mortgage with a 5pc deposit is now 3.12pc, according to Moneyfacts. This is down from November last year, when it was 4.74pc, and lower than the 3.27pc it was in the same month in 2019.