Are Mortgage Rates Going Up? Why Lenders Moved Before the Bank Did

Mortgage rates are going up, and they went up before the Bank of England has voted. Nationwide, HSBC, Lloyds, Halifax and Santander were among around 25 lenders that raised fixed rates in the week to Friday 11 September 2026, pushing the Moneyfacts average two-year fix to 5.67% and the five-year to 5.72%, the highest since June and April respectively. This page explains who moved, why fixed pricing rose ahead of the 17 September decision, and what a borrower with a deal ending soon should do about it. Mortgage One is a whole of market mortgage adviser helping borrowers lock a fixed rate while lenders reprice ahead of the Bank of England.

For a free initial consultation on securing a rate before the next round of increases reaches your loan-to-value band, call 01202 155992 or contact Mortgage One.

Are mortgage rates going up in the UK right now?

Yes. The average two-year fixed mortgage rate rose to 5.67% and the five-year to 5.72% on Friday 11 September 2026, according to Moneyfacts, with around 25 lenders raising rates in a single week. The two-year average is at its highest since June and the five-year at its highest since April, reversing the August easing.

The direction matters more than the level. In early August the same averages sat at 5.63% and 5.66% and lenders were cutting, so the whole of the summer's easing has been given back in a fortnight. Averages blend every loan-to-value band and fee tier on sale, which is why the lowest deals still sit around a point beneath them: on 9 September Moneyfacts listed Santander's 4.52% two-year fix at 60% LTV as the lowest for home movers, Principality's 4.62% at 65% LTV as the lowest two-year remortgage rate, and West Brom's 4.78% as the lowest 90% LTV two-year fix for a first-time buyer. Our chart of average fixed rates by LTV band shows how far each tier sits from the headline average, and our comparison of 2-year and 5-year fixed deals works through which term suits you once the rise has landed.

Whether UK mortgage rates are going up for you depends on when you apply, not just on the averages. A rate is only held once a product is booked or a full application is submitted, and in a repricing week the lowest deals are withdrawn first, often with a day's notice or none. Mortgage rates rising in the averages is the lagging signal. The leading one is the withdrawal notice landing in a broker's inbox at four o'clock on a Tuesday.

Which lenders raised mortgage rates before the Bank of England vote

HSBC raised two-year and five-year fixed rates across its residential and buy-to-let ranges from 7 September 2026, and Nationwide raised selected two, three and five-year fixed rates from 10 September, leaving its lowest five-year fix at 4.59%. Lloyds, Halifax and Santander repriced in the same week, and Moneyfacts counted around 25 lenders moving in total.

Nationwide's move is the one the market watches, because it is the lender that led the cuts. On 4 August it reduced fixed rates by up to 0.19 percentage points and took its lowest fix to 4.52%. Five weeks later that lowest rate is 4.59% and the society is raising rather than cutting. Our Nationwide mortgage rates table shows where its range now sits on a stated checked date. HSBC's rise came first and was broad: two and five-year fixes across purchase, remortgage, Fee Saver, Standard and Premier Exclusive lines, with existing product codes only honoured for applications submitted by midnight on 4 September. Our HSBC mortgage rates page carries the range after the change.

Mortgage rates increasing at Nationwide, HSBC, Lloyds, Halifax and Santander inside one week is not a pricing skirmish. It is the same funding move landing in every treasury department at once. Adam French, head of consumer finance at Moneyfacts, said mortgage rates had only just caught up with earlier increases in swap rates, so lenders would now face further pressure to reprice. The August wave that our lender rate cuts round-up tracked ran the other way for the same reason. Swaps fell, so fixed rates followed. This month swaps jumped, and fixed rates followed that instead.

Why are mortgage rates going up when the base rate has not moved?

Mortgage rates are going up because fixed deals are priced from swap rates, not from Bank Rate. Swap rates jumped as the ten-year gilt yield climbed above 5.25% in early September 2026, its highest since 2007, while Bank Rate has sat at 3.75% since December 2025. Lenders reprice to their funding cost, and that cost rose first.

A fixed-rate mortgage is a funding cost plus a margin. The lender hedges a two-year fix against the two-year swap and a five-year fix against the five-year swap, then adds a margin that has to cover capital, servicing, credit risk and distribution. When swaps rise 20 or 30 basis points in a week, every product still on sale at the old price is losing margin on each application in the pipeline, and the lender has two choices: reprice or withdraw. Our swap rates and lender margin chart shows how thin that margin already was before the move, which is why the pass-through has been so quick.

The reason swaps jumped sits in the bond market. Renewed conflict in the Middle East has kept energy prices high and reopened the inflation question, and the European Central Bank raised its own rate in the second week of September. Investors have demanded a higher yield to hold government debt, gilts have sold off, and swaps have tracked them. Rachel Springall of Moneyfacts put it plainly: swap rates are much higher than they were a month ago and are a key influence on how lenders price their fixed-rate mortgages. Our explainer on how gilt yields drive fixed rates walks through that chain from bond auction to mortgage offer, with September 2022 as the working example of what happens when it moves too fast.

None of this required the Bank of England to act. Bank Rate anchors tracker and variable pricing, and our tracker mortgage guide covers what a rise on Thursday would do to those products directly. Fixed pricing answers to where the market expects Bank Rate to go, and the market has moved from pricing cuts to pricing rises. That is the whole story of why are mortgage rates going up in a month when the official rate did not.

To find out which lenders have not yet repriced for your loan size and deposit band, and how long that is likely to hold, call 01202 155992 or contact Mortgage One.

What the 17 September Bank of England vote could do to fixed pricing

As at 11 September 2026 markets priced a 69% chance of a hold at 3.75% on 17 September and a 31% chance of a rise to 4%, with the implied path reaching 4.75% by the end of 2027. Fixed rates already reflect that path, so a hold would not unwind this month's increases and a rise would add to them.

The July vote is why the hike risk is live. The Monetary Policy Committee held at 3.75% on 30 July on a six-to-three vote, with Megan Greene, Catherine Mann and Huw Pill voting for a rise to 4%. Two more votes would change the rate. Consumer Prices Index inflation rose to 2.9% in July from 2.6% in June, and the August figure lands at 7am on Wednesday 16 September, the day before the decision. A hot print would harden the dissenters' case. Our page on the 17 September Bank of England meeting carries the vote count, the timetable and what each outcome would mean for tracker and fixed pricing.

Forecasters are split on the path beyond Thursday, which is the honest answer to whether mortgage rates will go up further. Bank of America expects no change for the rest of 2026, Oxford Economics expects a hold well into 2027, and Victoria Scholar of Interactive Investor expects roughly one quarter-point rise by the end of the year. Money markets go further, pricing four quarter-point rises by July 2027 that would take Bank Rate from 3.75% to 4.75%. Those are expectations rather than decisions, and our UK interest rate projection tracks where the SONIA curve puts the path week by week around each meeting.

For fixed-rate borrowers the practical point is that the market's expectation is already in the price. A five-year fix quoted today is priced off a five-year swap that assumes Bank Rate rises, so the decision itself changes fixed pricing only where it surprises. Set against the Bank of England base rate history a 4% Bank Rate would sit below the long-run average rather than above it, which is not how most borrowers who fixed at 2% in 2021 read it.

What a 0.25 point rise adds to a typical mortgage payment

A 0.25 percentage point increase from the current 5.67% average two-year fix adds about £38 a month to a £250,000 repayment mortgage over 25 years, £23 on £150,000 and £61 on £400,000, or around £456 a year on the £250,000 loan. That is the cost of one lender reprice, and this month has brought several.

The arithmetic is worth doing on your own balance rather than the averages. On a £250,000 loan over 25 years the monthly payment at 5.67% is about £1,561 and at 5.92% about £1,599. The same 0.25 points on a 4.59% five-year fix, Nationwide's lowest after its rise, takes the payment from about £1,402 to about £1,438. Each reprice is small on its own. The problem for a borrower waiting for the decision is that three of them in a fortnight are not, and a quarter-point rise on Thursday would push swaps further before the next round. Our fixed-rate mortgage guide covers how the two-year and five-year terms trade certainty against flexibility once the level is set.

The sharper cost sits with anyone who lets a deal lapse. Every fixed deal reverts to the lender's standard variable rate when it ends, and our current standard variable rate chart shows what reverting costs against a new fix. A borrower who drifts onto the SVR in a rising week pays the reversion premium and then applies into a dearer market a month later, which is the worst sequence available.

Should you lock in a mortgage rate before Thursday?

If your deal ends within six months, yes, lock in a mortgage rate now. Most lenders let you reserve a rate up to six months ahead and switch to a cheaper one if pricing falls before completion, so a reservation this week caps the downside of a rise on 17 September without giving up the upside of a hold.

What holds a rate is a product booked or a full application submitted before the lender's withdrawal deadline. A decision in principle does not hold pricing and neither does a broker's illustration. Once booked, most lenders honour the rate through to offer, and most allow a switch to a lower rate if their range falls before completion, so booking early in a rising week carries little downside. Our analysis of whether to fix now or wait set out in July why the balance of risk had turned higher, and September has confirmed it.

The route depends on the case. A product transfer with your existing lender is quick, needs no fresh affordability check and prices from one range on one day. A remortgage opens the whole of market and can win on rate or let you borrow more, at the cost of fresh underwriting and a few weeks of legal work. Our remortgaging guide weighs the two on total cost and our product transfer guide covers the reservation windows. In a week when the biggest lenders have repriced, the spread between the lender that fits your case and the one that fitted it in August has widened, and a whole of market mortgage broker reads that spread daily.

For buyers mid-purchase the priority is the offer. A mortgage offer holds its rate for the offer period, typically six months, so an application submitted this week carries the current price through a chain that may not complete until spring, with a switch to a lower rate usually available if the market turns before exchange. Waiting for Thursday to see which way the vote goes buys information the swap market has already priced, at the risk of another reprice on Friday.

Figures as of 14 September 2026, London.

If your current deal ends within the next six months and you want a rate reserved before the 17 September announcement, call 01202 155992 or contact Mortgage One.

Back to Rate Forecast and Economic Drivers

The information provided in this article is for general guidance only and does not constitute personal or regulated financial advice. If you'd like to understand what these moves could mean for you, speak to Mortgage One. We can explain your options and timings based on your specific circumstances.

FAQs

1. Are mortgage rates likely to go up in the UK?

Fixed mortgage rates have already gone up in September 2026, with the Moneyfacts average two-year fix at 5.67% and the five-year at 5.72% on 11 September after around 25 lenders repriced in a week. Whether they rise further depends on swap rates, which track where markets expect Bank Rate to go, and markets currently price a rise to 4% by the end of 2026. Fixed pricing can move before the Bank of England does, in either direction.

2. Why are mortgage rates going up when the Bank of England has not raised rates?

Because fixed mortgage rates are priced from swap rates rather than Bank Rate. Swap rates jumped in early September 2026 as gilt yields climbed, with the ten-year gilt above 5.25% for the first time since 2007, and lenders repriced to their higher funding cost while Bank Rate stayed at 3.75%. The Bank of England only sets tracker and variable pricing directly.

3. Will mortgage rates go up after the 17 September decision?

A rise to 4% on 17 September would push swap rates and fixed pricing higher again. A hold, which markets priced as the more likely outcome as at 11 September, would not reverse this month's increases, because the expectation of later rises is already in the swap curve. Fixed rates respond to surprises relative to that curve, not to the decision on its own.

4. Are mortgage rates expected to go up or down over the next year?

Forecasters are split. Bank of America and Oxford Economics expect Bank Rate to hold at 3.75% for the rest of 2026, Interactive Investor expects roughly one rise by the end of the year, and money markets price four quarter-point rises to 4.75% by July 2027. Fixed mortgage pricing already reflects the market path, so it would need swap rates to fall for fixed deals to get cheaper from here.

5. How much are mortgage rates going up by?

The Moneyfacts average two-year fix rose from 5.63% in early August 2026 to 5.67% on 11 September and the five-year from 5.66% to 5.72%. Individual lender moves are larger than the averages suggest, because the averages blend products that have not yet repriced. On a £250,000 repayment mortgage over 25 years, each 0.25 point rise adds about £38 a month.

6. Is it better to fix for 2 or 5 years when rates are rising?

A five-year fix locks the current price through a period when markets expect Bank Rate to rise, at the cost of higher early repayment charges if your plans change. A two-year fix returns you to the market sooner, which suits a borrower who expects the current rise to reverse. On 11 September 2026 the two averages sat 0.05 points apart, so fees, loan size and your own plans decide it more than the rate gap does.

7. Can a broker still get a rate that has been withdrawn?

No lender reopens a withdrawn rate, but a broker sees withdrawal notices as they land and can submit a full application the same day to book a rate before the deadline, which is usually hours rather than days in a repricing week. Mortgage One is a whole of market mortgage adviser arranging residential, buy-to-let, expat and seafarer cases, and the initial consultation is free.