UK Mortgage Rates Oct 2026: 5.56% Fixed

UK Mortgage Rates at a Glance

Published 4 October 2026; figures current to 3 October 2026 (Rightmove tracker). This is the October 2026 edition of our monthly UK mortgage rates series; the November 2026 edition will be published after the first tracker release in November.

Average 2-year fixed: 5.56%. Average 5-year fixed: 5.52%. Lowest advertised 2-year fixed: 4.90%. Lowest advertised 5-year fixed: 4.98%. Average 2-year fixed at 95% loan-to-value: 6.06%. Tracker mortgages are priced off the Bank of England base rate, currently 3.75%, plus the lender's margin. Bank of England base rate: 3.75%, held since December 2025.

Rates Rose Again in October

The average UK two-year fixed mortgage rate climbed to 5.56% on October 3, according to Rightmove's rate tracker, up 0.07 percentage points in a single week and up more than a full point compared with a year ago. The average five-year fixed rose to 5.52%, up 0.05 points on the week. These averages cover around 95% of the mortgage market, based on products with a roughly 999 pound fee.

The cheapest advertised deals are still noticeably lower: the lowest two-year fixed sits at 4.90% and the lowest five-year fixed at 4.98%. But those headline rates go to borrowers with large deposits and clean applications. The rate you are actually offered depends on your deposit size, your credit history, and the lender's appetite that week.

What 5.56% Actually Costs You in Pounds

Percentages are abstract, so here is what the move looks like on real purchases. Take a typical first-time buyer home at 225,525 pounds with a 20% deposit, which means a 180,420 pound mortgage over 25 years. At the 5.06% average rate from early September, the monthly payment was about 1,061 pounds. At 5.56%, it is about 1,114 pounds. That is 53 pounds more every month, or roughly 640 pounds a year, for the same house.

On the national average asking price of 364,999 pounds with the same 20% deposit and 25-year term, the payment moves from about 1,717 pounds a month to about 1,804 pounds. That is 87 pounds a month, or just over 1,000 pounds a year, extra. Small rate moves add up fast on large loans, which is exactly why first-time buyers feel rate rises first.

These are illustrative figures on standard repayment terms. Your payment will differ with your deposit, term, fees, and the exact deal you get, which is why running your own numbers matters more than any national average.

Why Fixed Rates Are Rising While the Base Rate Is Flat

This confuses a lot of buyers: the Bank of England base rate has been held at 3.75% since December, yet fixed mortgage rates keep climbing. The reason is that fixed rates do not follow the base rate directly. They follow swap rates, which are what lenders pay in wholesale markets to fund fixed lending, and those move on expectations about inflation, government borrowing, and global risk.

Right now, escalating geopolitical tensions, including the outbreak of war in the Middle East, have made financial markets more unpredictable. When markets get nervous, swap costs rise, and lenders pass that on by repricing their fixed deals higher. That is why your fixed rate can go up even in a month when the Bank of England does nothing.

Tracker mortgages behave differently: they move with the base rate, so they are steadier while the base rate is on hold. If you are weighing the two, our fixed versus tracker comparison walks through the trade-offs in detail.

• Fixed vs Tracker Mortgage: Which Is Better?

Who Feels It Most

Borrowers with small deposits are hit hardest, because their rates are higher to begin with and every rise lands on top. At 95% loan-to-value, the average two-year fixed is now 6.06%. At 90% it is 5.68%, at 85% it is 5.50%, and even at 60% loan-to-value, the average two-year fixed has reached 5.15%. The gap between a 5% deposit buyer and a 40% deposit buyer is now nearly a full percentage point.

Remortgagers coming off deals fixed two or five years ago face the sharpest shock. Someone who locked in around 4.5% in 2024 and now remortgages at 5.5% or more will see a jump of hundreds of pounds a month, even with a smaller outstanding balance. If your deal ends in the next six months, this is the moment to start looking, because most lenders let you lock a new rate three to six months before your current deal expires.

This is general information, not personal financial advice. If the numbers are tight, a qualified mortgage adviser can look at your specific situation before you commit.

What Buyers and Remortgagers Can Do

First, do not assume the first rate you see is the rate you get. The spread between the average (5.56%) and the lowest advertised two-year fixed (4.90%) is more than half a point, which on a 200,000 pound loan is worth over 60 pounds a month. Shopping across lenders, or using a whole-of-market broker, is the single highest-value hour you can spend.

Second, think about term length honestly. Five-year fixes are currently a touch cheaper than two-year fixes on average (5.52% versus 5.56%), which is unusual. If you believe rates will fall, a shorter fix keeps your options open. If you need payment certainty, the small premium for fixing longer can be worth it.

Third, attack the loan-to-value. Crossing a deposit threshold, from 90% to 85% or 85% to 80% loan-to-value, can cut your rate by 0.2 points or more. That can come from a bigger deposit, a cheaper property, or in some cases a family gift. And finally, check whether overpaying is allowed on your current deal: many fixed deals let you overpay up to 10% a year without penalty, which trims the balance your next remortgage is priced on.

• Remortgage at current rates

Run Your Own Numbers

National averages tell you the direction; your own figures tell you the decision. The fastest way to see what October's rates mean for you is to plug in your price, deposit, and term and compare monthly payments across rates.

Use our free UK mortgage calculator to compare what you would pay at 5.56% versus 5.06% or 4.90%, and see how a bigger deposit or a longer term changes the picture before you talk to a lender.

• Calculate your UK mortgage payment

Sources

The figures and policy details in this article come from the following primary sources, checked at the time of writing.

• Rightmove weekly UK mortgage rate tracker
• Bank of England official Bank Rate