Rubbish Check
Daily Mail Money (This is Money) · 29 September 2026
source“Average homeowner’s mortgage rate has doubled in five years and sits at 4% for first time since 2009”
R2/ 10
Lightly altered
Rubbish Rating — 1 = base fact, 10 = pure rubbish
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In short
Rubbish Talk rates Daily Mail's claim that the average outstanding mortgage rate "has doubled in five years and sits at 4%" a 2/10 because both the doubling and the 4% figure match the Bank of England's own August 2026 Money and Credit release almost exactly.
The Verdict
Lightly altered, and only just. This headline is close to the base fact: the Bank of England's own data confirms the rate on outstanding mortgages hit 4% in August, up from around 2% in December 2021, and that this is the highest since 2009. The single soft spot is the "doubled" framing itself, technically accurate (2% to 4% is literally double) but a slightly punchier way to say "up two percentage points," which understates how gradual and multi-year the rise actually was.
What actually happened
The Bank of England's Money and Credit release for August 2026 showed the effective interest rate on the entire outstanding stock of UK mortgages reached 4.00%, up from 3.97% in July. That compares with roughly 2% in December 2021, before the Bank's rate-hiking cycle began, and it is the first time the outstanding-book rate has been at or above 4% since February 2009 on a comparable data series. The same release showed mortgage approvals for house purchases falling to their lowest level since December 2023, with new-loan rates (a separate, always-higher figure) averaging 5.91% according to Moneyfacts.
Key facts
- Outstanding mortgage stock rate: 4.00% in August 2026, up from 3.97% in July, per the Bank of England's own Money and Credit report.
- December 2021 outstanding rate: approximately 2%, meaning the article's "doubled" claim is arithmetically correct, not exaggerated.
- The Bank's comparable series last recorded outstanding rates above 4% in February 2009; the specific 2016-onward dataset has never shown 4% before.
- New two-year mortgage rate today: 5.91% (Moneyfacts), a separate and higher figure than the outstanding-book average, correctly distinguished in the article body.
- Mortgage approvals: just under 55,000 in August, the fourth straight month below 60,000, and 13% lower over four months than the same period a year earlier (Savills analysis).
What to watch for
Watch whether the outstanding-book rate keeps climbing toward the new-loan rate of 5.91%, since existing borrowers refinance onto today's higher rates as fixed deals expire, a lag effect that will keep pushing the "outstanding stock" average up regardless of what happens to new lending rates. Also watch the October Budget for the rate-cutting interventions analysts are demanding, and whether the Your First Home scheme actually lifts approval numbers or just softens sentiment as one broker warned.
About this scoreThe R-Score is Rubbish Talk's editorial opinion on how far a headline's framing sits from what the underlying facts support. It is a judgement about presentation and emphasis, not an allegation that any outlet has acted dishonestly. Every figure we rely on is linked under Receipts so you can check it yourself.
