Mortgages: Costs

(asked on 31st October 2022) - View Source

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of recent trends in the cost of mortgages in the UK.


Answered by
Andrew Griffith Portrait
Andrew Griffith
Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
This question was answered on 8th November 2022

Interest and mortgage rates have been rising since last autumn in response to global trends, including Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine. Crucially, interest rates are not solely rising in the UK: the US Federal Reserve, for instance, has been raising its Base Rate since March 2022.

However, the Government has a responsibility to provide stability for markets, including for mortgages. This is why we have taken immediate action to ensure the UK’s economic stability and to provide confidence in the Government’s commitment to fiscal discipline.

Whilst the pricing of mortgages is a commercial decision for lenders in which the Government does not intervene, the Government is in regular contact with mortgage lenders on all aspects of their mortgage lending to understand their position and current lending conditions.

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