Mortgage statistics 2024: Average UK mortgage size

We explore all the latest mortgage statistics, including average mortgage size, monthly payments and debt, to see how the market currently sits if you are looking for a mortgage deal.

Mortgage statistics UK: Highlights

• The average size of a mortgage taken out between July and September 2023 was £189,503.
• On average, Brits are paying £665 a month for their share of the mortgage payment, higher than the average rent payment.
• The average monthly mortgage payment for a semi-detached property was £1,262 in December 2022, 62% higher than the previous year.
• In December 2023, the average 2-year fixed-rate mortgage interest rates for a 25% deposit was 5.03%, down from 6.22% in July 2023.
• The average outstanding mortgage debt per household in the UK in 2023 is £129,130.
• As of March 2023, there are 13.15 million outstanding mortgages in the UK totalling almost £1.7 trillion.
• In November 2023, the average house price in the UK was £285,000.
• As of 2022, house prices in London were 13.3 times higher than the average yearly salary.

What is the average mortgage size in the UK?

The average value of a mortgage granted between July and September 2023 was £189,503. This is down from a decade-high average mortgage size of £203,381 in the quarter from July to September 2022.

The number of mortgages taken out saw a dip between April and June 2023, going under the 300,000 mark. This is the biggest dip since June 2020 when the effects of the coronavirus lockdown hit the housing market hard.

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What is the average monthly mortgage payment in the UK?

The average monthly mortgage payment is £664 per person in the UK according to our 2023 survey, and data shows that the average monthly mortgage payment for a semi-detached house in December 2022 was £1,262.

This is up by 59% year on year from December 2021, when the average monthly mortgage for a semi-detached house was £781.

Our survey also found that mortgage holders are currently paying more per month than those renting in the UK, where traditionally, they would expect to pay less. The average person pays £657 in rent per month in the UK.

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Average mortgage interest rates in the UK

The interest rate for a 5-year fixed rate mortgage (75% LTV) was 4.86% in December 2023. In the same month, the average 2-year fixed-rate mortgage interest rate (75% LTV) was 5.03%.

While mortgage rates have historically stayed fairly consistent, they began increasing in the middle of 2022. The Bank of England has continually increased the base rate to combat rising inflation, and this has a knock-on effect on mortgage interest rates. More recently, rates have started coming down again in anticipation that the Bank of England will start lowering the base rate.

The graph below shows the average rates for fixed-rate (75% LTV) mortgages, with the peak interest rate for a 5-year mortgage reaching 5.71% in July 2023. The average interest rate for a 75% LTV 2-year fixed-rate mortgage hit 6.22% in July 2023.

LTV ratio, or loan-to-value ratio, is the ratio of what you borrow as a mortgage. For example, with a 90% LTV mortgage, you would need to put down a 10% deposit. Those who can afford a lower LTV ratio are generally able to access better interest rates, but this can be harder for first-time buyers who can’t put down a large deposit.

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What is the average mortgage debt in the UK?

The average outstanding mortgage debt in the UK in the second quarter of 2023 is estimated to be £129,130. There are approximately 12.8 million mortgage accounts active, and the value of all residential mortgage loans was £1,655 billion in July 2023.

What is the average length of a mortgage in the UK?

25 years is often seen as the standard length for a mortgage. However, in 2022, half of first-time buyer mortgages had terms longer than 30 years, compared to a quarter in 2012, according to data from UK Finance.

Average house prices in the UK

The average house price in the UK had been rising since the banking crisis and market crash in 2007-2009. In September 2023, the average house price in the UK was £291,000, and this reached a peak in August 2023 at £293,000.

However, prices have begun to drop again in 2023, and some experts believe they will continue to fall throughout the year. Although prices are dropping, mortgage interest rates still remain high, and many products are being pulled from the market, which is an obstacle for many first-time buyers.

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House-prices-to-earnings ratio: How does your region compare?

The house-price-to-earnings ratio is a way to calculate the affordability of housing by dividing house prices by salary. This varies between regions as both house prices and salaries change.

The ratio is most extreme in London, where house prices are currently 13.3 times higher than the average yearly salary. Those in the North East of England are in the best position, as house prices here are only 4.87 times earnings.

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Mortgage arrears and possession statistics

There were 87,930 homeowner mortgages in arrears of 2.5% or more of the outstanding balance in the third quarter of 2023. This is a 7% increase on the previous quarter. 630 properties with a homeowner mortgage were taken into possession in the third quarter of 2023.

Click here for more research. For all media enquiries, please contact

Matt Mckenna
Head of UK communications
T: +44 20 8191 8806

• Mortgage statistics: 2022 research

  Quick overview

  • Since the beginning of October 2022, the average 5-year fixed mortgage rate has touched 6.02%, the highest rate since February 2010.
  • The average 2-year fixed rate has also crossed the 6% mark and is now 6.11%. This rate is the highest over the past 14 years.
  • The total worth of secured mortgages in July 2022 was £1.6 trillion. Therefore, the average mortgage amount held per household was £57,797.
  • By the end of September 2022, the residential mortgage market saw 935 products withdrawn. This is 31.9% of the 2,931 mortgage deals available on average.
  • House prices rose by an average of 9.9% in the last 12 months, from September 2021 to 2022.
  • In August 2022, mortgage approvals for house purchases increased sharply to 74,300.
  • In Q1, 2022, the house-price-to-earnings ratio was highest in London at 9.7 and lowest in the North East with a ratio of 4.6.

  Average mortgage interest rates:

  Mortgage rates have been increasing in 2022; however, they have now seen a sharp increase after the mini-budget was announced last month. Since the beginning of October 2022, the 5-year fixed mortgage rate has touched 6.02%. This percentage has not been seen since February 2010. The 2-year fixed rate has also crossed the 6% mark and is now 6.11%. This rate is the highest compared to the rates in the past 14 years. In October 2021, the average 2-year rate was 2.25% and the 5-year rate was 2.55%.

  One of the reasons behind this rise is the Bank of England increasing interest rates 7 times since December 2021. The recent hike in September 2022 increased the base rate from 1.75% to 2.25%. This percentage is the highest since 2008.

  Average house prices

  The average house price rose by 9.9% in the 12 months from September 2021 to 2022. The average rose from £269,945 up to £293,835.

  This price actually decreased a little compared to £294,000 in August 2022. Compared to other UK regions, Wales has reportedly seen a high annual growth of 16.1%. This is an all-time high since 2005, with the average house now priced at nearly £225,000. The price of an average home in London costs more than 500,000 pounds. In the last 12 months, the cost of a house in London grew by more than £44,000. This pressure on house prices can be attributed to stamp duty cuts, high interest rates and fewer available homes.

  The graph below explores more about the previous UK house prices in the last few years:

  The average price of a house in England has been trending upwards since the financial crash. In July 2022, it was £311,583 in England, £192,966 in Scotland, £219,951 in Wales and £169,063 in Northern Ireland.

  House-prices-to-earnings ratio: How does your region compare?

  The house-price-to-earnings ratio differs by region, with London being the region with the highest ratio – 9.7 in Q1, 2022. The North East, on the other hand, is the most affordable region relative to earnings, with a ratio of 4.6. The price of a typical UK home is now 7.1 times the average earnings, which is the highest level ever seen.

  Mortgage approvals:

  In August 2022, mortgage approvals for house purchases increased sharply to 74,300. This is 10,600 more than the approvals received from July 2022 (i.e. 63,700). The lowest was 9,300 in May 2020, and the highest was 107,500 approvals in November 2020.

  Outstanding mortgages:

  By the end of July 2022, the value of outstanding mortgage loans stood at £1.6 trillion, which is £63.2 billion more than in July 2021 (£1.5 trillion). This means that the average outstanding mortgage for 10.97 million households with mortgage debt was £146,427 in July 2022.

  By the end of September 2022, the residential mortgage market saw 935 products withdrawn. This is 31.9% of the 2,931 mortgage deals available on average.

  Mortgages in arrears:

  A mortgage in arrears means that your payments are overdue – this is expressed as a percentage of your total outstanding balance.

  The value of outstanding balances with arrears decreased by 0.7% over the quarter and 7.2% over the year to £13.2 billion in 2022 Q2. In the second quarter of 2022, a majority of mortgages in arrears were owned by homeowners rather than those doing buy-to-let. 74,540 homeowners and 5,640 buy-to-let customers had arrears of over 2.5% of the balance. 28,840 homeowners and 1,790 buy-to-let customers had arrears of over 10% of the balance, while 7,900 homeowners and 600 buy-to-let customers had arrears of 7.5–10% of the balance.

  Largest mortgage lenders in the United Kingdom by market share.

  The top 10 largest mortgage lenders in the UK hold up to 81% of the market, with the top 5 alone accounting for 63% in 2021. Lloyds Banking Group had the largest market share of gross mortgage lending, with £56 billion in lending in 2021.

  Matthew Boyle, mortgage specialist, reflects on the the housing market's post-pandemic state

  

  "The UK's coronavirus lockdown saw the housing market – and the mortgage market – effectively paused during spring 2020. Many lenders cut the number of products they had on offer, particularly at higher LTVs, as they concentrated on their existing mortgage customers and dealing with mortgage holiday requests. However, as property viewings and sale completions started to return post-lockdown, the housing market was shown to be surprisingly robust in terms of asking prices.

  But the expected post-pandemic boom obviously didn't go quite according to plan. Against a backdrop of increasing living costs and increasing costs of borrowing, many consumers have become nervous about the prospect of stretching themselves (which for years was the go-to strategy). At the same time, lenders have been forced to pull longer-term fix deals and hike their rates across the board. Lenders are also reappraising what "affordable" now looks like when assessing the risk of lending.

  Whether these factors translate into any significant and sustained fall in house prices remains to be seen. Particularly in the South East, the tendency is for the market to stagnate rather than to go backwards."

  Sources

  • Statista
  • UK Finance
  • Gov.uk
  • BSA
  • Bank of England
  • Lloyds Banking Group
  • Money Facts
  • BBC
  • Halifax
  • Financial Conduct Authority
  • Money Charity

  Click here for more research. For all media enquiries, please contact

  Matt Mckenna
  Head of UK communications
  T: +44 20 8191 8806
  

• Mortgage statistics: 2021 research

  Has the UK housing market recovered from the 2007/2008 financial crash? We explore all the latest mortgage statistics to see if the market has bounced back and which mortgage lenders are currently offering the best deals.

  Overview of mortgages in the UK

  • The Bank of England has increased interest rates to 2.25% as of September 2022.
  • Over 900 mortgage products have been withdrawn from the market in September 2022.
  • The number of mortgages with arrears of over 2.5% of the remaining balance rose by 15 a day from the beginning of the year till March 2021.
  • The outstanding value of all residential mortgage loans was £1.56 trillion as of the end of Q1 2021, which is 3.6 % higher than the year before.
  • The value of new mortgage commitments is £77.5 billion, which is 15% higher than the year before.
  • The proportion of mortgages in arrears fell to its lowest amount since 2007, at 0.94% (Q3 2019).
  • The value of gross mortgage advances in Q1 2021 was £83.3 billion, 26.5% higher than it was in Q1 2020 and the highest level since Q4 2007.
  • In April 2021, the 10-year mortgage rate was 2.58%. This is a slight increase from March 2020, when it stood at 2.36%.
  • The average UK house price reached a peak of £256,000 in March 2021.
  • There were 469,000 homeowner remortgages from July 2018 – June 2019.
  • Of those mortgages, 231,000 were equity withdrawn remortgages and 238,000 were refinancing remortgages.
  • On average, there are 39,000 homeowner remortgages every month in the UK.
  • Over a third (38.9%) of residential loans were remortgages in Q1 2019.

  Mortgage statistics: Interest rates

  March 2020 saw 10-year fixed mortgage rates drop to their lowest at 2.36%, which was good news for those looking to remortgage or buy a property for the first time. These rates have been creeping up ever since, reaching 2.58% in April 2021. Interestingly, 2-year variable rates rose to a high of 2.37%, which had not been seen since 2014. For 2-year, 3-year and 5-year fixed rates, there was a steady decline from 2014 to 2020. These interest rates started to rise again as 2020 came to an end. At the beginning of 2021, the decline resumed again, with percentages dropping from 2% to just over 1.5% for all.

  Average house prices

  The average price of a house in England has been trending upwards since the financial crash. In March 2021, it was £274,615, up from £249,121 in March 2020 and £242,982 in March 2019. In comparison to Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, the average house price in England is much higher. In March 2021, the average house price in Wales was £185,431. In Scotland, it was £166,566, and in Northern Ireland, it was £149,178.

  House-prices-to-earnings ratio

  With the cost of a house on the rise, how have prices moved relative to our earnings? The house-price-to-earnings ratio compares the median house price to the median gross annual income. Over the 16 years from 2002 to 2018, the house-price-to-earnings ratio has risen from 5 to 7.8. This means that there has been more than a 50% rise in the cost of a house relative to our earnings.

  How does your region compare?

  The house-price-to-earnings ratio differs by region, with London being the region with the highest ratio of over 13 in 2018. The North East, on the other hand, is the most affordable region relative to earnings, with a ratio of just over 5.

  Mortgage statistics: Number of approvals

  By the end of 2020, as the UK entered another lockdown, unemployment rates reached a new low of 5% after a steady decline since March 2020. As jobs disappeared and salaries were cut, the number of people who were eligible for a mortgage also began to drop. To make it worse, the Bank of England also took a stricter approach when handing out loan approvals to potential buyers. Mortgage approvals were rising steadily at the beginning of 2020 but started decreasing in March when the number of approvals fell to 57,282 – a 22% drop. Even more shocking are the figures from April 2020, which show that the number of loan approvals dropped to just 16,130 – 72% less than in March. May saw loan approvals reach a disturbing low of 9,435 before climbing up again in June.

  Mortgages in arrears

  In the first quarter of 2021, a majority of mortgages in arrears were owned by homeowners rather than those doing buy-to-let. Specifically, 77,640 homeowners had mortgages in arrears, while those with buy-to-let had just 5,970. Looking at the breakdown by arrear type, it’s clear that most homeowner and buy-to-let customers in the UK have 2.5–5% of their mortgage balance in arrears. 28,100 homeowner mortgages have 2.5–5% of their balance in arrears, and 2,680 buy-to-let mortgages have 2.5–5% of their balance in arrears.

  This number begins to lessen as the percentage in arrears increases. Those with arrears of 7.5–10% have the smallest number of mortgages in the UK for both homeowners and buy-to-let customers, making this the most uncommon arrear percentage in the UK.

  Mortgage statistics: What type of remortgages are people taking?

  Remortgaging your house can be a way of releasing equity or simply changing the terms of your mortgage or switching providers. In the last 12 months, there were 469,000 homeowner remortgages. Of these, 231,000 were equity withdrawn remortgages and 238,000 were refinancing remortgages (with no money withdrawn).

  Should Brits take a mortgage holiday?

  Our analysis looks at what repayment holidays might mean in the long term for mortgage holders in 3 different scenarios:

  • Scenario 1: First-time buyer, 1 year into their 30-year mortgage of £170,000.
  • Scenario 2: Mid-late 30s with a family, with a 20-year mortgage worth £220,000.
  • Scenario 3: Older homeowner, with 7 years left to pay their remaining mortgage balance of £55,000.

  • Table 1: Mortgage scenarios

  Taking these 3 scenarios into account, Table 1 below shows what the monthly repayments and total repayments would be in normal circumstances.

  • Table 2: Taking a mortgage holiday

  In response to the coronavirus pandemic, the government encouraged providers to offer mortgage holidays that last up to 3 months for those who request them. Finder has calculated how much monthly repayments would go up after a mortgage holiday for each of the 3 scenarios. Table 2 also shows how much would be paid over the whole lifetime of the mortgage in each case.

  • Table 3: An alternative: Extending the length of the mortgage by 2 years

  Instead of a mortgage holiday, some lenders will allow the term of a mortgage to be extended. So while you won’t be able to skip any payments like you would with a mortgage holiday, the monthly repayments would be permanently lower for the remainder of the mortgage term. But because the mortgage goes on for longer, the amount repaid in total would be more than if you had not extended the term. Table 3 below examines the costs of extending the mortgage for 2 years for each of the scenarios in question.

  • Table 4: An alternative: The impact of a 6-month holiday

  On 22 May 2020, the government announced that mortgage holidays could be extended for a further 3 months, meaning those that needed to could take a 6-month mortgage holiday in total. We looked at the impact of a 6-month holiday on monthly repayments and overall cost below.

• Mortgage statistics: 2020 research

  After the financial crash in 2007/08, has the UK housing market recovered? We explore all the latest statistics to see if the market has bounced back or not and which mortgage lenders are currently offering the best deals.

  Overview of mortgages in the UK

  • £137,934 is currently the average UK mortgage debt in 2020.
  • 87% fall in mortgage approvals from February to May 2020 due to COVID-19.
  • £227,283 was the average house price in March 2020, 2% higher than March 2019.

  What is the size of the mortgage market?

  • The outstanding value of all residential mortgages was £1.5 trillion at the end of 2020 Q1, 3.9% higher than a year earlier.
  • The value of gross mortgage advances was £65.8 billion in Q1 2020, 3.8% higher than in Q1 2019.
  • Over £275 billion was borrowed in 2019 for mortgages alone.
  • Compared to last year, the value of new mortgage commitments was 6% higher in 2020, at £67.6 billion.
  • The proportion of mortgages in arrears fell to its lowest amount since 2007, at 0.94% (Q3 2019).

  Average mortgage size

  How big is the average mortgage in the UK?

  • Outstanding mortgage lending stood at £1.5 trillion in Q1 2020.
  • There are 10.94 million mortgages in the UK.
  • Based on this, the average mortgage debt amounts to £137,934.

  Average house price

  The average price of a house has been trending upwards since the financial crash. The average house price in March 2020 was £233,168, up from £227,283 in March 2019.

  Mortgages and COVID-19

  As jobs keep disappearing and salaries continue to be cut, the number of people who are eligible for a mortgage is dropping. To make it worse, the Bank of England is taking a harder approach when it comes to handing out approvals.

  The Bank of England mortgage approvals were rising steadily at the beginning of the year but started decreasing in March when the number of approvals fell by 24% from February to March. Between March and April, they fell another 72%.

  In total, the mortgage approvals have fallen 87% over the past 4 months, from approving £73.5 million in February 2020 to only £9.3 million in May.

  First-time buyers

  Getting your foot on the property ladder is a major milestone in your life.

  • So far, in 2020, the average mortgage size for first-time buyers was £170,301.
  • There were 351,000 first-time buyer mortgages completed in 2019.
  • This is a 5% decrease from 2018
  • However, 2018 was the highest number of first-time buyer mortgages since 2006 (402,800).
  • Over 60% of first-time buyers get mortgages with terms of more than 25 years.

  Remortgage statistics

  Remortgaging is the act of switching your existing mortgage to a new deal. This might be to raise some cash, reduce the interest rate on your mortgage or consolidate your debts, for example.

  • There were 16,820 new remortgages with additional borrowing in December 2019.
  • This is 5.9% more than in the same month in 2018.
  • The average additional amount borrowed in November was £50,702.
  • There were 16,490 new pound-for-pound remortgages (with no additional borrowing) in November 2019, 0.5% fewer than in December 2018.

  Mortgages in arrears

  If your mortgage is in arrears, it means your payments are overdue – this is expressed as a percentage of your total outstanding balance.

  • There are 72,380 homeowner mortgages in arrears of 2.5% or more of the outstanding balance (Q1 2020).
  • This is 6% lower than in Q1 2019.
  • Within this total, 22,050 homeowner mortgages were in significant arrears (representing 10% or more of the outstanding balance).
  • There are 4,420 buy-to-let mortgages in arrears of 2.5% or more of the outstanding balance (Q1 2020).
  • 12 properties were repossessed every day in Q1 2020.
  • This amounts to 1 property every 2 hours.

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