Editor's note: This brief was summarised by The Property AI Newsroom from a report by Property Industry Eye. Read the original article for full details.

Major Lenders Raise Mortgage Rates, Impacting Autumn Housing Market

Major UK lenders including HSBC, Barclays, and NatWest have increased mortgage rates since the start of September, according to Moneyfactscompare.co.uk. The changes come as banks and building societies respond to rising swap rates, with more lenders expected to follow suit in the coming days.

The recent increases in mortgage rates are putting further pressure on buyer affordability, a key concern as estate agents look to the autumn market for stronger activity. Even modest rate rises can have a noticeable impact on borrowers. Moneyfacts calculates that a 0.25 percentage point rise on a £250,000 mortgage would add around £38 to monthly repayments, or £456 a year on a 25-year mortgage, based on a typical two-year fixed rate moving from 5.63% to 5.88%.

Lenders are closely monitoring swap rates when pricing fixed-rate mortgages. Earlier this year, major high street banks such as Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Bank, NatWest, and Santander priced their cheapest deals around 0.29 percentage points above the two-year swap rate. However, the current response from lenders has been more cautious compared to the rapid repricing and product withdrawals seen in March 2026. Since the beginning of September, only a small number of lenders have withdrawn fixed-rate mortgages, with Family Building Society among those to have temporarily pulled products.

Higher mortgage rates can reduce buyer borrowing power and affordability, which may affect budgets, transaction volumes, and the ability of buyers to progress agreed sales. Estate agents and property professionals are therefore watching the direction of mortgage pricing closely as the autumn market develops.