Mortgage market update | May 2026

The last few weeks have felt a little calmer than April, but there’s still a lot of uncertainty around what happens next with rates.

Most of the conversations I’m having at the moment are less about “should I move?” and more about “what should I actually do?”

Should people fix for 2 years or 5?

Will rates come back down?

Should they take a tracker?

The honest answer is that it completely depends on the person and their situation.

What I am seeing is people slowly adjusting to where things are today. Buyers are still looking, people are still moving, and remortgages are still happening, even if decisions are taking a little longer than they were earlier in the year.

Here’s what’s been happening this month.

Bank of England Holds Rates at 3.75%

At the end of April, the Bank of England held the base rate at 3.75%, which wasn’t a huge surprise given everything that’s been happening globally.

Inflation has crept back up to 3.3%, largely driven by higher energy costs following the conflict in the Middle East, and the Bank has made it clear they’re being cautious about cutting rates too quickly.

I think this is where a lot of people are getting a bit stuck.

There’s a lot of noise around rates, inflation and predictions, but most people just want to know what it actually means for them.

From a mortgage perspective, it probably means rates stay a little higher for a little longer than people hoped a few months ago. But that doesn’t mean things have suddenly fallen apart either.

Over the last couple of weeks we’ve actually seen a few lenders start reducing rates slightly again, which just shows how quickly things can change.

Halifax Launch £5,000 Deposit Mortgage

Halifax have launched a new mortgage aimed at helping more first-time buyers get onto the property ladder with just a £5,000 personal deposit.

The scheme is available up to a maximum purchase price of £300,000 and only requires one applicant on a joint application to be a first-time buyer.

Realistically, this probably won’t help huge numbers of buyers in London given property prices, but I still think it’s another positive step in the right direction.

One of the biggest problems for first-time buyers is still getting a deposit together while paying high rent, so it’s encouraging to see another major lender trying to improve access to the market.

What I’m seeing

Nationwide’s latest house price report showed annual growth holding up reasonably well, which probably reflects how active the market was earlier in the year before rates started moving up again.

You can read the latest report here.

But from my side, things definitely feel a little slower than they did a few months ago.

A lot of buyers are still looking, but there doesn’t seem to be a huge amount of good property coming onto the market at the moment.

For clients who are also trying to sell, some are finding they’re not getting quite as many viewings through the door as they expected either.

That said, people are still moving forward.

I think after the initial shock of rates increasing again, people are slowly adjusting and getting on with things. Life moves on whether rates are at 3%, 5%, or somewhere in between.

My Final Thought

It feels like there’s always something happening in the background when it comes to mortgages and the property market.

The people who tend to do best aren’t normally the ones trying to perfectly predict what happens next. They’re the ones who understand their own situation, stay flexible, and make decisions based on what works for them.

If you’re unsure what any of this means for you, whether you’re buying, moving or re-mortgaging, feel free to get in touch.

Risk warnings

Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage