🏡📊 Top Stories of the Week: Mortgage rate rises on horizon as major lenders reprice and more than 8,500 tenanted homes on the market.

https://www.mortgagestrategy.co.uk/news/mortgage-strategys-top-10-stories-07-sept-to-11-sept/

#MortgageStrategy #FinanceNews #UKHousing

It’s Friday, and time for our round-up of the main #UKHousing policy news and events from this week 🏘️📰

Read the full update over on LinkedIn ➡️ buff.ly/K5TLoRX

Overall, house building activity year-to-date (January to July) in 2026 is already 8.4% lower than a year ago & we are only just starting to see the Middle East conflict impacts feed through to activity. This is the 4th consecutive year of falling house building. (15/end)
#ukhousing #ukconstruction

... which officially started in April, starts to deliver activity down on the ground, which is only expected at in 2026 Q4 or, more likely, 2027 H1. (14/n)
#ukhousing #ukconstruction

... public house building activity in July 2026 was 3.2% higher than in June but 22.2% as activity on the old Affordable Homes Programme continues to slow & before activity on the Social and Affordable Homes Programme,... (13/n)
#ukhousing #ukconstruction

In terms of public house building activity, just be careful using the time series as there is a structural break data problem in the ONS public house building data in January 2022 (where the level of activity essentially doubles). However,... (12/n)
#ukhousing #ukconstruction

Note that the HBF estimated in May that the cost of building a low-rise house has risen by £76,000 in the last 5 years & for a new home in a high-rise development by £98,000 (the difference due to the government's 2nd staircase requirement). (11/n)
#ukhousing #housing
www.hbf.co.uk/documents/15...

... & as I have highlighted in red, the government's extra costs on house building just keep on increasing with the Building Safety Levy on 1 October & the Future Homes and Building Standards in March. (10/n)
#ukhousing #housing

In less expensive areas, affordability is less of an issue, although recent rises in mortgage rates clearly won't help, but the bigger problem is site viability, due to increases in building material costs & the government's long list of extra costs on house building... (9/n)
#ukhousing #housing

... & it is worth noting that affordability in more expensive parts of the country, especially London, the South East & East of England, was already a problem even before the conflict rises in mortgage rates. (8/n)
#ukhousing #housing

... house builders are being hit on both the affordability (demand) & costs (supply) sides. On affordability, mortgage rate rises & falls in approvals since Spring (& most recently in September) will affect affordability, sales rates & forward sales in both Q3 & Q4,... (7/n)
#ukhousing #housing

Major house builders are focusing on adjusting build out rates on existing developments to the subdued & slowing level of demand, not starting any new developments (except in a few very selected sites). As I have highlighted many times,... (6/n)
#ukhousing #housing

... after mortgage rate rises in Spring, major house builder sales rates & forward sales slowed significantly in Q2 & so the start of recent significant falls in private house building activity were no surprise. (5/n)
#ukhousing #housing

Major house builder activity in 2026 Q2 was based on forward sales, mortgage approvals & mortgage rates before the Middle East conflict, & majors were still building completions to meet that demand with cancellations remaining low at that point. However,... (4/n)
#ukhousing #housing

Within this, activity in July 2026 in private house building (81% of total house building in 2025) was 4.9% lower than a month earlier and 7.5% lower a year earlier, as expected. It was also 24.7% lower than in January 2020 & 28.8% lower than at the recent peak in 2022. (3/n)
#ukhousing #housing

House building activity in July 2026 was also 23.5% lower than in January, pre-pandemic, and it was 29.7% lower than at the recent peak of activity, during 2022. (2/n)
#ukhousing #housing

House building activity fell once again as expected in July 2026. House building output in July was 3.6% lower than in June & 10.3% lower than a year ago, according to this morning's GDP data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). (1/n)
#ukhousing #housing

The Bank of England called housing "a complete sideshow." That's how we got here.
#housing #economics #ukhousing #realestate #shorts

Now included in www.thinkhouse.org.uk :: @northernconsortium.bsky.social REPORT :: Unlocking over 500,000 good quality homes in the North :: Awaiting Editorial Panel assessment. #ukhousing #housingresearch #housingpolicy

Holly Williamson ran John Healey’s office before he became chancellor. Now, she is leading @generationrent.bsky.social . Amy Rushton reports #UKhousing

www.insidehousing.co.uk/insight/what...