Falling mortgage rates will see savings "hammered" if they continue on a downward slope, claims one expert.

There is a possibility that mortgage rates have now fallen as low as they will, says a spokesman for Moneyfacts, with few lenders likely to slash rates further.

"Effectively the banks and building societies can’t afford to lend money at lower than they are doing at the moment," he comments.

Furthermore, the expert believes standard variable rate mortgages at less than five per cent are "reasonable", despite perhaps not being as low as some people would like.

He claims the spotlight is now on "the savings side", which means accounts which are not as reasonable are going to be exposed.

On March 5th 2009, the Bank of England cut the base rate by half a percentage point to 0.5 per cent. This is the lowest rate since the formation of the Bank of England in 1694.

Moneyfacts reported in March 2009 that only 12.1 per cent of lenders (11 out of 91) intended to pass on the latest interest rate cut to borrowers.