Interest rates in the UK spiked in 2022 and 2023, with the average rate for new mortgage advances to individuals and individual trusts rising by **** percentage points between January 2022 and January 2024. Mortgages on a floating interest rate were the most expensive as of January 2024, at **** percent. On the other hand, the average rate for new advances with a five-year fixed rate was **** percent.

Housing affordability in the UK has worsened notably since 2020, with the share of income spent on mortgage payments rising for first-time and repeat buyers. In 2024, homebuyers spent, on average, 20.5 percent of their income on mortgage payments, up from 16.2 percent in 2020. First-time buyers spent a notably higher percentage than repeat buyers. One of the main factors for the declining affordability is the rising housing costs. House prices have increased rapidly since the COVID-19 pandemic. Mortgage rates have also soared since, leading to notably higher monthly payments.

Mortgage rates surged at an unprecedented pace in 2022, with the average 10-year fixed rate doubling between March and December of that year. In response to mounting inflation, the Bank of England implemented a series of rate hikes, pushing borrowing costs steadily higher. By October 2025, the average 10-year fixed mortgage rate stood at **** percent. As financing becomes more expensive, housing demand has cooled, weighing on market sentiment and slowing house price growth. How have the mortgage hikes affected the market? After surging in 2021, the number of residential properties sold fell significantly in 2023, dipping to just above *** million transactions. This contraction in activity also dampened mortgage lending. Between the first quarter of 2023 and the first quarter of 2024, the value of new mortgage loans declined year-on-year for five consecutive quarters. Even as rates eased modestly in 2024 and housing activity picked up slightly, volumes remained well below the highs recorded in 2021. How are higher mortgages impacting homebuyers? For homeowners, the impact is being felt most acutely as fixed-rate deals expire. Mortgage terms in the UK typically range from two to ten years, and many borrowers who locked in historically low rates are now facing significantly higher repayments when refinancing. By the end of 2026, an estimated five million homeowners will see their mortgage deals expire. Roughly two million of these loans are projected to experience a monthly payment increase of up to *** British pounds by 2026, putting additional pressure on household budgets and constraining affordability across the market.

Mortgage repayments as a percentage of monthly equivalised disposable household income, throughout the house price and income distribution.

Mortgage interest rates in the UK were on a downward trend for more than a decade before soaring in 2022. In the first quarter of 2025, the average weighted interest rate stood at **** percent — nearly ***** times the interest rate in the first quarter of 2022. Mortgage rates also vary depending on the type of mortgage: Historically, fixed rate mortgages with a shorter term had on average lower interest rates. What types of mortgages are there? In terms of the type of interest rate, mortgages can be fixed and variable. A fixed interest rate is simply a mortgage where the rate of repayment is fixed, while a variable rate depends on the lender’s underlying variable interest rate. Furthermore, mortgages could be for a house purchase or for refinancing. The vast majority of mortgages in the UK are fixed rate mortgages for house purchase, and only a small share is for remortgaging. How big is the UK mortgage market? The UK has the largest mortgage market in Europe, amounting to over ** billion euros in gross residential mortgage lending as of the fourth quarter of 2024. When comparing the total outstanding residential mortgage lending, the UK also ranks first with about *** trillion euros.

For the past decade, buying a home in the UK has been more affordable than renting one, when only considering the monthly costs. The renting versus buying gap fluctuated during the period and in 2016, it reached its highest value of 131 British pounds. In 2023, the monthly costs for a first-time buyer were 1,231 British pounds, compared to 1,258 British pounds for renters. Rental growth vs house price growth Housing costs in the UK have been on an uprise, with both renting and buying a home increasingly unreachable. Though the monthly costs of buying have consistently been lower in the past decade, house price growth has been much stronger than rental growth since the beginning of the pandemic. Additionally, buyers have been affected by the aggressive mortgage rate hikes, making acquiring their first home even less affordable. Barriers to homeownership Buying a home is not straightforward. For younger (18-40) potential first-time buyers, there are a number of barriers. Approximately one in three first-time buyers point out that raising a deposit was the main obstacle. Other reasons stopping buyers were not being able to take out a mortgage on their current income and poor credit ratings. Unsurprisingly, the highest share of people who buy a home with a mortgage was in the age group of 45 to 55-year-olds.

Mortgage Rate in the United Kingdom remained unchanged at 6.78 percent in October. This dataset provides - United Kingdom BBA Mortgage Rate- actual values, historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news.

The first-time buyer average mortgage increased across all regions in the United Kingdom in 2023. London had the largest average mortgage size at over ******* British pounds. This was because it was also the region with the most expensive hosing.

Expenditure on rent by renters and mortgages by mortgage holders, by region and age from the Living Costs and Food Survey for the financial year ending 2022. Data is presented as a proportion of total expenditure and a proportion of disposable income.

The average cost of buying a property with a mortgage in Camden, London, was about ***** as high as in Croydon in June 2024. Despite experiencing one of the highest declines in property prices in the past year, Kensington and Chelsea remained the most expensive borough for residential real estate. The average cost of buying a new residential dwelling with a mortgage is usually higher than the original asking price. The amount of the down payment, interest payments placed on the repayment of the loan, and other added costs can amount to thousands of British pounds. Property prices in other cities in the UK Cambridge, Oxford, and Bristol were some of the other cities with costly housing markets. Despite the slowdown in the residential sector, many of the major cities in the UK continued to see house prices increase in 2023. Though the housing boom witnessed during the pandemic has come to an end, prices show little volatility, due to the high demand and chronic shortage of affordable housing. To buy or to rent? Buying has long been the better option for those who can afford it. Homebuyers can achieve monthly savings of several hundred British pounds, depending on the region. Nevertheless, the soaring mortgage rates and house prices in recent years have led to a narrowing gap between purchase and rental costs.

These National Statistics provide monthly estimates of the number of residential and non-residential property transactions in the UK and its constituent countries. National Statistics are accredited official statistics.

England and Northern Ireland statistics are based on information submitted to the HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) database by taxpayers on SDLT returns.

Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT) replaced SDLT in Scotland from 1 April 2015 and this data is provided to HMRC by https://www.revenue.scot/">Revenue Scotland to continue the time series.

Land Transaction Tax (LTT) replaced SDLT in Wales from 1 April 2018. To continue the time series, the https://gov.wales/welsh-revenue-authority">Welsh Revenue Authority (WRA) have provided HMRC with a monthly data feed of LTT transactions since July 2021.

LTT figures for the latest month are estimated using a grossing factor based on data for the most recent and complete financial year. Until June 2021, LTT transactions for the latest month were estimated by HMRC based upon year on year growth in line with other UK nations.

LTT transactions up to the penultimate month are aligned with LTT statistics.

Go to Stamp Duty Land Tax guidance for the latest rates and information.

Go to Stamp Duty Land Tax rates from 1 December 2003 to 22 September 2022 and Stamp Duty: rates on land transfers before December 2003 for historic rates.

The latest release was published 09:30 28 November 2025 and was updated with provisional data from completed transactions during October 2025.

The next release will be published 09:30 09 January 2026 and will be updated with provisional data from completed transactions during November 2025.

https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/20240320184933/https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/monthly-property-transactions-completed-in-the-uk-with-value-40000-or-above">Archive versions of the Monthly property transactions completed in the UK with value of £40,000 or above are available via the UK Government Web Archive, from the National Archives.

This is the unadjusted median house priced for residential property sales (transactions) in the area for a 12 month period with April in the middle (year-ending September). These figures have been produced by the ONS (Office for National Statistics) using the Land Registry (LR) Price Paid data on residential dwelling transactions.

The LR Price Paid data are comprehensive in that they capture changes of ownership for individual residential properties which have sold for full market value and covers both cash sales and those involving a mortgage.

The median is the value determined by putting all the house sales for a given year, area and type in order of price and then selecting the price of the house sale which falls in the middle. The median is less susceptible to distortion by the presence of extreme values than is the mean. It is the most appropriate average to use because it best takes account of the skewed distribution of house prices.

Note that a transaction occurs when a change of freeholder or leaseholder takes place regardless of the amount of money involved and a property can transact more than once in the time period.

The LR records the actual price for which the property changed hands. This will usually be an accurate reflection of the market value for the individual property, but it is not always the case. In order to generate statistics that more accurately reflect market values, the LR has excluded records of houses that were not sold at market value from the dataset. The remaining data are considered a good reflection of market values at the time of the transaction. For full details of exclusions and more information on the methodology used to produce these statistics please see http://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/housing/qmis/housepricestatisticsforsmallareasqmi

The LR Price Paid data are not adjusted to reflect the mix of houses in a given area. Fluctuations in the types of house that are sold in that area can cause differences between the median transactional value of houses and the overall market value of houses. Therefore these statistics differ to the new UK House Price Index (HPI) which reports mix-adjusted average house prices and house price indices.

If, for a given year, for house type and area there were fewer than 5 sales records in the LR Price Paid data, the house price statistics are not reported. Data is Powered by LG Inform Plus and automatically checked for new data on the 3rd of each month.

The BBA Mortgage Rate in the UK refers to the average interest rate on mortgages offered by major banks, as reported by the British Bankers' Association.-2025-01-08

The BBA Mortgage Rate in the UK refers to the average interest rate on mortgages offered by major banks, as reported by the British Bankers' Association.-2025-12-05

The BBA Mortgage Rate in the UK refers to the average interest rate on mortgages offered by major banks, as reported by the British Bankers' Association.-2024-12-06

The BBA Mortgage Rate in the UK refers to the average interest rate on mortgages offered by major banks, as reported by the British Bankers' Association.-2025-02-07

The BBA Mortgage Rate in the UK refers to the average interest rate on mortgages offered by major banks, as reported by the British Bankers' Association.-2024-05-08

Interest rate on new mortgages in the United Kingdom decreased to 4.19 percent in September from 4.26 percent in August of 2025. This dataset includes a chart with historical data for the United Kingdom Interest Rate on New Mortgages.

Average loan balance at Statutory Repayment Due Date (SRDD), average loan balance at SRDD in FY2022-23 prices, average lifetime repayments in FY2022-23 prices, median years liable to repay, and proportion of loan outlay repaid in real terms of undergraduate borrowers, by lifetime decile