Average mortgage rates have moved back above 5% after lenders withdrew hundreds of products from the market in response to rising swap rates.
The average two-year fixed residential mortgage rate reached 5.01% on 11 March, up from 4.84% on Friday 6 March, according to Moneyfacts data.
The average five-year fixed rate also rose, increasing to 5.09% from 4.96% over the same period. Both measures are now at their highest levels since the summer of 2025.
The overall average Moneyfacts mortgage rate opened on 11 March at 5.04%, up from 4.91% at the end of last week and its highest level since 7 August 2025.
The rise in rates comes alongside a sharp contraction in product availability, with lenders pulling 472 residential mortgage deals from the market over the past 48 hours.
This represents around 6.5% of the residential mortgage market, leaving 7,164 products currently available.
According to Moneyfacts, this is the largest drop in available mortgage products since the market volatility that followed the mini-Budget in September 2022.
The biggest single-day fall on record occurred on 27 September 2022, when 935 residential mortgage products — just over 25% of the market at the time — were withdrawn.
Adam French, head of consumer finance at Moneyfactscompare.co.uk, said: “Recent days have been some of the most turbulent in the UK mortgage market since the aftermath of the September 2022 mini-Budget.
“In the last 48 hours almost 500 residential mortgage products have been withdrawn as lenders reacted to rapidly rising swap rates. However, the scale is nowhere near the shock seen in late September 2022 when 935 products, which accounted for more than a quarter of the market at the time, disappeared in a single day.
“Many of these deals are likely to return within the next few days and weeks as lenders adjust their pricing to higher rate expectations.
“Moneyfacts average mortgage rates have also jumped considerably higher, with the typical two-year fixed rate now at 5.01% for the first time since August 2025 and the average five-year fix surging past 5% to reach 5.09%.
“It’s unwelcome news for borrowers, as the prospect of falling mortgage rates has quickly given way to rate rises. How far they could go is now heavily dependent on how global markets and inflation expectations evolve as conflict in the Middle East unfolds.”
