Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the role of reduced mortgage rates in the recent increase in house prices.

The path to lower interest rates is through low inflation, and the Government is fully committed to supporting the Bank of England to get inflation back down to the 2% target, including by keeping borrowing under control.

The pricing and availability of mortgages is ultimately a commercial decision for lenders, in which the Government does not intervene. But our plan to bring inflation down is working. Average offered mortgage rates on 2-year and 5-year fixed rates have fallen from their peak in Summer 2023.

The most comprehensive measure of average house prices in the UK is published by the Office for National Statistics. In November 2023 the average house price in the UK was assessed to be £285,000. That leaves average UK house prices 24% higher than their average level in 2019.

The Government continues to monitor developments in the housing market closely and consider the implications for its policies.