The Mortgage Network

09/06/2026

UK house prices barely moved in May, down just 0.1% month on month, with the average property sitting at £298,806 according to Halifax.

The regional picture is the more interesting read. Northern Ireland up 7.8%. Scotland up 3.8%. North West up 3%. London down 1.5%. South East down 2.1%.

The national average can hide a lot. Whether you are buying, selling or just watching the market, where you are matters as much as what the headline figure says.

Are you seeing that in your area?

Property prices continue to reflect the uncertainty linked to developments in the Middle East, the bank said.

08/06/2026

Two year or five year fix? I get asked this almost every week at the moment.

My honest answer: nobody can tell you which is right for your situation by looking at the market. Base rate is at 3.75%, the economists cannot agree on what comes next, and anyone giving you a confident prediction is either guessing or selling something.

The decision gets a lot simpler when you stop trying to forecast rates and start thinking about your own circumstances instead. I have also written about the three year fix this week, which barely gets a mention but is worth knowing about.
Two year or five year, which are you currently leaning towards?

With base rate currently at 3.75% and the market split on whether the next move is a hold, a small cut or even a small rise, this is one of those decisions where the framing of a mortgage fix matters more than the forecasting.

06/06/2026

If you have defaults on your credit file or gambling transactions on your bank statements and you are wondering whether a mortgage is still possible, the honest answer is that it very often is, and this article explains why.

Lenders look at context, not just the headline, and a broker who understands how different lenders assess these situations can make the difference between a decline and a successful application. The article includes a real example of exactly that happening.

05/06/2026

If you are thinking about selling, Rightmove's latest data is worth paying attention to. Buyers currently have more choice than at any point since 2015, a third of homes on the market have already been reduced, and overpriced properties are taking nearly four times longer to sell than those priced correctly from day one.

Which? has put together a useful guide to five ways you can get a realistic picture of what your home is worth before you go to market, from Land Registry data through to estate agent valuations.

Realistic pricing is critical in a buyer's market

04/06/2026

Some positive news on rates today. Halifax, Lloyds, Coventry Building Society and Gen H have all cut mortgage rates, with reductions of up to 0.2% across various products including first-time buyer, home mover and remortgage deals.

It is a small but welcome move in the right direction given where rates have been heading since the start of the Iran conflict, and a reminder that the market does shift, sometimes quickly.

Halifax and Lloyds Bank have reduced mortgage rates across first-time buyer, homemover fixed rates on two-, three- and five-year terms, as well as selected two- and three-year fixed remortgages.

03/06/2026

Which? has released its monthly breakdown of the cheapest mortgage lenders and First Direct and HSBC have come out on top for May, ahead of Lloyds, Nationwide and Santander. For first-time buyers, Marsden Building Society was the standout, coming in almost £150 a year cheaper than the next best option.

Useful context if you are shopping around, though the cheapest rate on a comparison table and the right mortgage for your specific situation are not always the same thing.

For the typical borrower, these lenders were £146 a year cheaper than the next best provider

02/06/2026

House prices fell for the first time this year in May, dropping 0.6pc according to Nationwide, with the average home now valued at £278,024. Rising mortgage rates driven by the Iran conflict and a flood of rental properties coming onto the market as landlords respond to the Renters' Rights Act are both playing a role.

For anyone with a fixed rate mortgage ending soon, or thinking about buying, the rate environment right now is genuinely worth paying attention to.

House prices fell last month as the property market was hit by the Iran war and Angela Rayner’s crackdown on landlords.

01/06/2026

If your mortgage application has been declined, it does not mean you cannot get a mortgage, it means that particular lender said no, and that is actually a very different thing.

I have written a straightforward guide to why applications get declined, including a few reasons most people never see coming, and what the right next steps actually look like. The short version is that panicking and applying elsewhere immediately is the one thing that makes the situation harder to fix, and that the specialist lending market is much larger and more flexible than most people realise.

If you have been turned down and are not sure where to go from here, it's worth a read before you do anything else.

A look at why mortgages get declined and what you can do.

30/05/2026

A record £8.7bn worth of mortgage lending was cancelled in the first quarter of the year, according to new figures.

Long delays in the buying process and changing financial circumstances are continuing to cause transactions to fall through before completion.

It’s another sign of how important timing, communication and affordability remain throughout the home-buying process.

The value of mortgages cancelled by borrowers rose to a high of £8.7bn in Q1, analysis of data from the central bank showed.

29/05/2026

NatWest has increased the amount some higher-earning applicants may be able to borrow, with lending now reaching up to 6.5 times income in certain cases.

For buyers struggling with affordability, especially in areas with higher property prices, this could help open up more options.

However, larger borrowing also means larger long-term commitments, so it’s important to look carefully at what feels affordable both now and in the future.