Government · UK · Bank of England
UK Mortgage Lending Q1 2026: Remortgages Surge to 28%
Bank of England data for the first quarter of 2026 shows UK households pivoting from buying homes to refinancing them, with remortgaging up sharply and first-time buyer activity slipping. New mortgage commitments rose 11.5% on the quarter, pointing to a lending pipeline that is rebuilding.
Source published Summarised
Key findings at a glance
- £1,746.1bn total outstanding value of UK residential mortgage loans, up 0.7% on the quarter
- £69.6bn value of gross mortgage advances in Q1 2026, down 12.3% on the quarter
- £78.0bn value of new mortgage commitments, up 11.5% on the quarter and 14.2% higher than a year earlier
- 28.1% share of owner-occupier advances for remortgaging, up 6.8 percentage points year on year
- 57.7% share of owner-occupier advances for house purchase, down 8.6 percentage points year on year
- 27.4% first-time buyers' share of house-purchase lending, down 3.9 percentage points year on year
- 30.3% home movers' share of house-purchase lending, down 2.7 percentage points on the quarter
- 8.9% buy-to-let share of gross mortgage advances, up 0.8 percentage points year on year
- £20.1bn outstanding mortgage balances in arrears, the lowest level since the third quarter of 2023
- 1.1% arrears as a proportion of all outstanding mortgage balances, broadly flat on the quarter
- 8.0% share of advances with a loan-to-value ratio above 90%, the first quarterly fall since 2024 Q4
- 45.1% share of lending to borrowers with a high loan-to-income ratio
What the report covers
The Bank of England published its Mortgage Lenders and Administrators Statistics for the first quarter of 2026 on 9 June 2026. The release is a quarterly read on the state of UK mortgage lending, aggregated from data supplied by around 370 regulated mortgage lenders and administrators. It covers the value of lending, the purpose of each loan, risk measures such as loan-to-value and loan-to-income, and the level of arrears.
The standout story this quarter is a change in why people are borrowing. The share of owner-occupier lending going to remortgaging climbed to 28.1%, up 6.8 percentage points on the year, while the share going to house purchase fell to 57.7%, down 8.6 percentage points. Gross advances dropped 12.3% on the quarter to 69.6 billion pounds, yet new mortgage commitments, which signal lending agreed for the months ahead, rose 11.5% to 78.0 billion pounds. The pipeline is rebuilding even as completed lending dipped.
There is a reassuring signal underneath the numbers too. The value of balances in arrears fell to 20.1 billion pounds, the lowest since the third quarter of 2023, and arrears held at 1.1% of all outstanding balances. For a fuller picture of how UK households are funding day-to-day spending alongside this, see our earlier report on UK credit card borrowing in April 2026.
What this means for UK marketers
For marketers, the most useful line in this release is the swing from buying to refinancing. When 28.1% of owner-occupier lending is remortgaging and house purchase has fallen to 57.7%, the search intent of the audience shifts. Fewer people are typing in property-buying queries and more are comparing rates, looking at product transfer options, and weighing whether to fix again. Brands in mortgages, insurance, and financial services should be reweighting budget towards remortgage and rate-comparison keywords, and the messaging should speak to certainty and cost control rather than the excitement of a first move.
The first-time buyer squeeze matters for any business that sells into the moving moment. First-time buyers slipped to 27.4% of house-purchase lending and home movers to 30.3%, so the pool of people in the middle of a move, the audience that drives demand for furniture, white goods, removals, broadband switches, and home improvement, is smaller than a year ago. That argues for tighter targeting and stronger lifetime-value thinking rather than chasing a shrinking transactional audience with broad-reach campaigns. Considered, intent-led digital marketing tends to outperform volume buying in a market like this.
The resilience signal is the part to act on with confidence. Falling arrears and a buy-to-let share edging up to 8.9% suggest a landlord and owner base that is coping, which supports continued investment in big-ticket and home-related categories. Set against cooling inflation, shown in the latest ONS consumer price figures, the read for UK marketers is a consumer who is cautious but not retreating. Plan for steady demand, lead with affordability and value, and segment by where each customer sits in the housing cycle rather than treating the market as one block.
How they got the data
The figures come from the Mortgage Lenders and Administrators Return (MLAR), a quarterly statistical release the Bank of England compiles from data reported by around 370 regulated mortgage lenders and administrators. The return captures residential lending flows and balances, the purpose and risk profile of new advances, and arrears. It is reported not seasonally adjusted, with comparisons drawn against both the previous quarter and the same quarter a year earlier.
Risk measures in the release include loan-to-value and loan-to-income bands, and lending is also split by interest rate relative to the Bank's policy rate. Because many of those measures are framed against the Bank of England Bank Rate, the data tends to move with the wider rate cycle as well as with borrower demand.
Government · UK
Read the full report
From Bank of England · published 09/06/2026