u/CyborgFinance

Don't get too excited. Prices barely moved between May and June once you strip out seasonal effects. The annual figure crept up from 1.7% in May, but month-to-month prices went nowhere.

All UK regions posted price rises in the second quarter. Northern Ireland leads, up 8.6% on the year. That's nearly four times the UK average. A typical home there now costs £226,699.

The North West is England's strongest region at 3.9%. Scotland and Wales both hit 3.5%. The West Midlands had the biggest turnaround, jumping from zero growth to 3.2%.

London crawls along at 1.6%. The commuter belt is barely breathing. The Outer South East rose just 0.1%; East Anglia and the Outer Metropolitan area both managed 0.3%.

So why the sluggish market? Robert Gardner, Nationwide's chief economist, blames Middle East tensions, rising energy prices, and higher mortgage rates. Consumer confidence slipped, and mortgage approvals fell noticeably in May.

But there's a glimmer of hope. A memorandum between Iran and the US has pushed oil prices back down. UK inflation came in lower than expected and that has dragged fixed-rate mortgage pricing lower.

If that holds, affordability should ease and activity should pick up later this year.

What does it mean for you? If you're selling, price realistically. Buyers have more choice and negotiating power than they've had in years. Overpriced homes sit unsold.

If you're staying put, your equity is still growing — just slowly.

And if you're remortgaging, your mortgage adviser has lenders are already trimming deals to compete for your business.

The market isn't booming or busting. It's treading water, waiting for clarity.

NOTE: The Nationwide index is built entirely from its own mortgage approvals, not completed sales, and it's a single internal source rather than a mix. Data is captured at the post-survey approval stage (after the valuation is done) to be timelier than completion-based indices like the Land Registry

The Mortgage Works (TMW) launched an Energy Efficiency Further Advance priced at 2.99% with no product fee, open to its existing TMW buy-to-let landlords. You can borrow between £2,500 and £15,000, up to 75% loan-to-value, on a two- or five-year fix. That sits roughly two percentage points below TMW's standard rates — around 4.85% today at 75% LTV on a five-year fix.

Every penny of the advance must fund energy-efficiency improvements, and TMW will check.

The product itself covers individual, large-portfolio and limited-company BTL alike. However, some HAVE TO use a mortgage adviser whilst others have the option to.

The maths on a full £15,000, shown interest-only just to compare rates:

• At the 2.99% green rate: about £37 a month in interest.
• At the ~4.85% standard rate: about £61 a month.
• That is roughly £23 a month, or £280 a year.

Fifteen thousand pounds of cheap, secured funding for work most landlords have to do anyway — far cheaper than an unsecured personal loan (typically 8% or more), a second charge, or cash dragged out of better-yielding deposits.

Every privately rented home in England and Wales must reach EPC band C by 1 October 2030. Spend from 1 October 2025 counts toward a £10,000-per-property cost cap.

Eligible spend includes:

• Solar panels
• Loft, cavity-wall, pipe and boiler insulation
• Air or ground source heat pumps
• Boiler upgrades and replacement windows
• EV charging points, rainwater harvesting and small wind turbines

There is no Decision in Principle. TMW decides after a valuation and credit search, and offers stay open for six months.

My honest view: this is secured debt that raises your mortgage balance, not free money. But for an existing TMW landlord facing EPC C by 2030, it is the cheapest, lowest-friction funding I have seen. If you were going to insulate, re-glaze or replace a boiler anyway, locking 2.99% beats almost any alternative.

If that is you, talk to your mortgage adviser about this option. TMW call it the "Energy Efficiency Further Advance mortgage"

Note: A further advance with a different end date to your main mortgage can cause complications when you come to remortgage. As one may have an ERC when the other does not. Check the small print or a repayment plan.

Source:

• https://cyborg.finance/news/tmw-energy-efficency-further-advance

See Also:

• EPC upgrades: the tenant wins, you pay, and the property price is stagnant.

If you've been hunting for a bungalow, you've probably noticed something. There aren't many about. The few that exist go quickly, often above the asking price.

Bungalows made up just 1% of new homes registered in 2024, down from 11% in 1990, according to the National House Building Council. Yet 38% of homeowners aged 55 and over want one for their next move, making them the single most popular property type in that group.

So why aren't builders building them? It comes down to land. A bungalow uses roughly the same plot as a house but delivers less floor space, fewer bedrooms, and a smaller sale price. On the same site, a developer can fit more units by building up rather than out. Add in planning rules that favour higher density, plus taxes and infrastructure levies charged per plot, and bungalows often don't pay.

That wouldn't matter so much if the alternatives worked. Mostly, they don't. Retirement flats carry steep service charges and often depreciate rather than grow in value. Park homes come with their own legal and financial quirks. Renting late in life is a poor fit for most.

So the default for most is to stay put. The family home that suited a household of four now houses one or two. Stairs get harder. Running costs rise. The alternative feels worse.

There's a wider cost too. Every over-55 stuck in a four-bed is a four-bed that never reaches a young family. Jackson-Stops estimates that scrapping stamp duty for downsizers could free up 500,000 homes inside a year. The blocked top of the market blocks the bottom.

That situation is unlikely to change soon. Builders will keep building what's profitable. Bungalows will keep disappearing — developers knocked down 5,594 between 2020 and 2025, and 74% were replaced by houses rather than another bungalow, according to Hamptons analysis of EPC data.

If you're set on a bungalow, accept that you'll be competing hard. Register with local agents, move quickly, and expect to pay a premium for single-storey living. Coastal and rural spots tend to hold the highest concentration of stock, but they also draw the most competition.

The bungalow isn't dead. But it's been priced and planned into a corner, and the people paying the price are the ones who need it most.

• Want a bungalow to downsize? Join the queue. Here's why they've vanished
• Mortgage Strategy: The Death of the Bungalow
• HomeOwners Alliance: Bring Back the Bungalow
• Property Reporter: Bungalow Supply Falls to 1% of New Builds
• Property Wire: Britain's Single-Storey Housing Crisis
• Jackson-Stops: Stamp Duty Break for Downsizers
• GOV.UK: Stamp Duty Land Tax Residential Rates
• Restless: The Downsizing Dilemma
• Age UK: Late Movers Report (October 2025)

Starmer’s resignation adds political uncertainty and risk to an already nervous mortgage market but does **not** automatically push rates sharply higher.

Fixed-rate mortgage pricing is driven by swap rates, which move on market expectations for inflation, government borrowing, fiscal policy, and gilt yields. Heightened uncertainty can lift gilt yields and swap rates, leading lenders to reprice fixed deals higher or act more cautiously.

Markets have already reacted: gilt yields rose notably during leadership speculation (10-year yields hit multi-year highs; 30-year yields reached levels last seen in 1998). Recent positive rate reductions risk being curbed as the market digests the news.

The Labour leadership contest (opening ~9 July, new leader expected before Parliament returns in September) prolongs uncertainty. The next few weeks will heavily influence how the mortgage market responds.

Impact depends on the successor and perceived fiscal stance. Markets may demand a higher risk premium (and thus higher mortgage pricing) if they see looser spending or weaker commitment to discipline (e.g., speculation around Ed Miliband in a key Treasury role). A credible plan on growth, inflation, borrowing, and housing could keep the effect neutral or limited. Andy Burnham (current frontrunner) has pledged to maintain existing fiscal rules.

For borrowers, the dominant risk is **uncertainty**, not an immediate shock. Anyone remortgaging soon or nearing the end of a fixed deal should review options early and secure a rate rather than assuming further falls.

Potential policy changes under new leadership include property tax reform ideas (e.g., abolishing stamp duty and council tax for an annual proportional levy). If legislated, this could remove a major transaction barrier and increase housing activity/mortgage volumes, though it would require new legislation and faces timing risks.

Practical advice: borrowers should monitor gilt/swap markets and lender rate sheets closely this week and during the transition. Contact your mortgage adviser with fixed deals expiring in the next 6 months to assess locking in now as insurance.

Source: https://cyborg.finance/news/keir-starmer-resignation-mortgages

See Also: What would an Andy Burnham premiership mean for the property market? and Londoners face £200 rise in monthly mortgage bills if Andy Burnham as PM loses the confidence of markets

On the subject of supply chain disruption due to international conflict, Wilks said that the issues are yet to fully feed through, and that “even if the conflict is resolved today”, the damage to supply chains is “already baked in.”

The Bank Rate stands at 3.75%, unchanged at the April 2026 Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting. It has been at this level since a cut in December 2025. The next decision is on 18 June 2026 and is widely expected to result in another hold.

The Bank Base Rate affects SWAP rates, which affect the Mortgage Rates you will pay on Purchase/Remortgage or Product Transfer.

Source: The Intermediary