The Truth About Mortgage Rates: News vs Your Broker

24 Jul, 2026
The Truth About Mortgage Rates: News vs Your Broker

This always been a real bugbear of mortgage brokers!

The news media will usually quote an average rate in a certain product category without elaborating or explaining how the average rate has been calculated. It can be worrying and is often misleading.

The ‘mean average rate’ is much higher than the rate that most mortgages are secured on. ‘The big six’ lenders offer the lowest rates and account for over 90% of all mortgage transactions.

If you read an article with a worryingly high ‘average’ rate. Chances are the journalist has provided an average of the products on offer as opposed to an average of what people pay.

The below graph provides a visual representation of the issue. The mean average rate is 5.5%… but fewer than 7% of borrowers pay this.  

If you have read an article about average mortgage rates, don’t panic. Give us a call, we’ll get to the bottom of it for you.

Tom Collier Profile Image
Tom Collier - Advising Director
DipFA CeMAP FSRE

Tom is a qualified financial planner with 15 years’ experience in the financial services industry, the majority of his career to date has been spent helping his clients with their mortgages.As our resident life insurance expert, he’s always been very enthusiastic about what is, let’s face it, a rather dull subject. Tom has assisted one of the UK’s top insurers in developing and launching a new life insurance product into the broker market. He’s also very interested in the later life mortgage market and works closely with several lenders in this space, helping them develop their offering.Tom is fully fledged petrolhead, you can usually find him tinkering with an engine somewhere in his spare time.

Meet the Team