Mortgage Market Update - May 2026

27 May, 2026

The mortgage market is now experiencing a period of renewed stability following recent global events causing turmoil to the energy markets. Rates peaked early in April and have subsequently started to fall back, with the big 6 lenders all announcing rate reductions in the last week or so. Rates are still a little higher then prior to the crisis in the Middle East, but the markets are relatively confident that fixed rates will fall further over the summer. Inflation and economic data is looking more promising now as well, which should hopefully mean that we will avoid any imminent increases to the Bank of England base rate. 

There is a lot of competition between the mortgage lenders currently, with the increasing market sentiment in the state of the economy allowing lenders to start undercutting each other. We are also seeing the continuing loosening of mortgage regulation and the lenders opening up mortgage products to increasing numbers of consumers – an example of this is Halifax (the UK’s largest mortgage lender) recently launching a new First Time Buyer product with a deposit requirement of only £5,000 (this would amount to a deposit of less than 2% on a £300,000 property)

All of this should help the summer be a period of intense buyer activity as lowering rates and deposit requirements help an increasing number of people to get on the housing ladder, or move to another home 

As always, please get in touch with your local Choice Mortgage Solutions advisor, in your nearest branch of Pearsons, for your up-to-date mortgage options.

Ben Kany

Mortgage and Protection Consultant