First-time buyer mortgage payments hit 22.6% of gross income, the highest since the financial crisis, UK Finance finds

UK Finance's Q2 2026 Household Finance Review, published on 1 September, puts the average first-time buyer's mortgage payment at 22.6% of gross income - the highest since the 2008 financial crisis. The squeeze follows fixed-rate pricing rising around 100 basis points after swap rates spiked. For buyers that means less borrowing capacity and longer saving; for sellers, a thinner pool at the bottom of chains. It measures pressure rather than fresh deterioration - purchase demand is holding up rather than booming.