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Mortgage rates and property demand

ended 04. August 2026

Mortgage rates have been yo-yoing for much of 2026 and a fair bit over the summer. How has this impacted buyer/seller sentiment and demand for property? To date, has the summer of 2026 to date been quieter or busier than usual in your experience?

5 responses from the Newspage community

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Thomas George
Director at Mansell McTaggart
Summer 2026 has been quieter than usual and the reason is simple: mortgage rate uncertainty has stalled the mid-market, namely transactions in the £300k–£550k range. Buyers in this price bracket are feeling it as they are typically the purchasers borrowing the most relative to their incomes. Even small rate increases can make a purchase unworkable for this type of borrower. On a positive note, the buyers who are still active right now are serious and ready to move. And they have options, as stock levels are at a 10-year high nationally. The message to sellers is straightforward: price for the market you're in, not the one you remember. Do that, and your buyer is out there. Rates continue to wobble, with global volatility seeing some major lenders cut rates and others raise them this week. It's a backdrop that can undermine sentiment unless the buyer is committed, which those in the market generally are at present.
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Stephen Perkins
Managing Director at Yellow Brick Mortgages
The biggest impact hasn't been on demand, it's been on confidence. People still need to move because life doesn't stop for mortgage rates, but the recent volatility has made many buyers and sellers pause, question their timing and take longer to commit.

Despite that, I'd describe the summer as quieter rather than weak. Demand hasn't disappeared, it's become more considered. As mortgage rates settle, confidence tends to return surprisingly quickly because many of those buyers were only ever pressing pause, not cancelling their plans.
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Michelle Lawson
Director at Lawson Financial
There has been so many things mooted by the Government that they have confused the public and also damaged consumer confidence. People will hold off if there are potentially positive enhancements to things such as Stamp Duty as it is such a large part of the associated costs. Join this with interest rates and soaring bills, spiralling costs of living, the unstable money markets, it is a recipe for disaster. The property market impacts so many other industries that some hope and positivity is needed to kick-start the housing sector and the rest will organically come together. Having countless Housing Ministers who have never prioritised the sector will come back and bite them. There is plenty of stock, arguably too much, lender innovation but not enough movement.
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Ross Lacey
Director & Independent Financial Adviser at Fairview Financial Management
The uncertainty is frustrating as many have a monthly mortgage payment figure in their minds and then within a matter of days this can be different.

People looking at mortgage fixed rates around 3.5pc at the start of the year are now, in some cases, reconsidering whether they still want to purchase properties that require as much borrowing.

Naturally, the stress tested rates that they would have needed to be able to afford would have been higher than what fixed rates are currently, but the payments being higher now have led to some reconsideration.
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Emma Jones
Managing Director at Whenthebanksaysno.co.uk
Ongoing rate volatility caused by events in the Middle East has seen many would-be buyers sit on their hands and wait until they feel more confident about what the future holds.