Just under a third of households have a mortgage, according to the government’s English Housing Survey, external.
About 500,000 homeowners have a mortgage that “tracks” the Bank of England’s rate.
Any rise in the Bank rate means an increase in the monthly repayments on their outstanding loan. For a typical loan, the cost would go up by about £31 a month if the Bank raises the base rate by 0.25 percentage points, but it depends considerably on the size of people’s loans.
An additional 500,000 homeowners on standard variable rates (SVRs) would wait to see if their lender chose to pass on any Bank rate rise. Typically, this would mean a £14 increase per month in repayments for every 0.25 percentage points rates rise.
But the vast majority of mortgage customers – some 87% – have fixed-rate deals. While their monthly payments aren’t immediately affected by a rate change, their future deals are.
Most lenders have already priced in a rise in the Bank rate in November, so this is already reflected in the rates being offered.
As of 3 November, the average two-year fixed residential mortgage rate was at 5.97%, while the average five-year rate stood at 5.99%, according to financial information service Moneyfacts.
The average two-year tracker rate was 4.67%.
About 800,000 fixed-rate mortgages with an interest rate of 3% or below are expected to expire every year, on average, until the end of 2027. Borrowing costs for customers coming off those deals are likely to rise sharply.
