Mortgage Market Is a Bright Spot in UK Cost-of-Living Crisis
Rates on new UK home loans have subsided even as the central bank has tightened policy.
Lower mortgage rates should ameliorate the downturn in the UK housing market.
Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/BloombergThere is plenty of financial doom to be found flicking through UK consumer news these days. Yet putting to one side the dire consequences of the cost-of-living crisis, the picture for homeowners needing to refinance their mortgages is improving significantly — good news for both the housing market and consumers.
With 85% of mortgages at fixed rates but most of them lasting only for two years, there was always going to be a reckoning as the Bank of England raised official interest rates in the past year to 3.5% from near zero. But mortgage rates have come down from their November peak even as the central bank has continued to tighten policy.