London, March 30, 2026, 17:12 BST
NatWest Group will raise mortgage rates across its new-business, existing-customer and extra-borrowing ranges from March 31, marking its second repricing in less than a week after an earlier reset took effect on March 26. Many purchase and remortgage deals are due to rise by 28 basis points, or 0.28 percentage point, according to updates on the bank’s intermediary website. 1
The timing is awkward for borrowers and for NatWest. Bank of England data on Monday showed mortgage approvals rose to 62,584 in February, the highest in three months, suggesting housing demand had started to recover before March’s jump in funding costs hit lenders. 2
Ministers are trying to stop that recovery from stalling. Chancellor Rachel Reeves met NatWest and other major lenders last week and won a pledge that banks would contact 1.6 million customers whose fixed-rate deals expire by year-end, setting out support options under the Mortgage Charter. 3
NatWest said applications on old pricing can still be submitted until 11:59 p.m. on Monday. After that, a fee-free two-year fixed purchase deal at 60% loan-to-value — the share of a home’s value financed by the mortgage — rises to 5.02% from 4.74%, while the comparable 95% loan-to-value offer goes to 5.78% from 5.50%; on remortgages, the fee-free two-year fixed at 60% goes to 5.16% from 4.88%. 1
The broader field has been moving the same way. Moneyfacts said Barclays, HSBC and Santander were among the large lenders that had raised rates since the start of March, and Rachel Springall, a finance expert at Moneyfactscompare, called the loss of sub-4% fixed deals a “cautious decision” as swap rates — a market benchmark used to price fixed mortgages — moved higher. 4
Adam French, head of consumer finance at Moneyfactscompare, said the average mortgage rate hit 5.50% on March 25, the highest since August 2024, warning that “a more volatile world is a more expensive world.” Moneyfacts said a typical borrower taking a £250,000 mortgage over 25 years now faced more than £1,075 a year in extra costs compared with the start of March. 5
Economists said Monday’s Bank of England figures might already look dated. EY ITEM Club’s Matt Swannell said the February numbers mostly reflected an unwinding of earlier weakness, while Paul Dales at Capital Economics said the inflation burst from higher energy prices was more likely to be “short-lived than long-lasting” even as he cut his forecast for 2026 house price growth. 2
But the next turn is still unclear. If oil stays high and funding costs keep rising, NatWest and rivals may have to reprice again or pull more products; if the geopolitical shock fades quickly, some of March’s pressure could unwind. Reuters reported last week that more than 21% of residential mortgage products had already been withdrawn since the conflict began. 6
