UK mortgage sales rose to 717,519 in 2025, the highest annual total since 2021

UK mortgage sales rose to 717,519 in 2025, up from 617,295 in 2024, according to mortgage statistics published by the Office for National Statistics on 18 September 2026¹. The ONS said this was the highest annual total since 2021, but that activity remained around 34.5% below 2006 levels¹. The figures cover sales of mortgages and exclude remortgages, which replace an existing mortgage on the same property¹.

First-time buyers accounted for more than half (52.8%) of all mortgage sales in 2025, compared with around one-third (33.8%) in 2006¹. First-time buyer sales rose from 369,596 in 2006 to 379,207 in 2025, while sales to second and subsequent buyers more than halved from 699,001 to 327,045 over the same period². The ONS described this as a substantial shift in the composition of the mortgage market¹.

The UK median loan-to-value (LTV) ratio for first-time buyers increased from 85.0% in 2024 to 85.6% in 2025, its highest level since before the 2008 financial crisis¹. For all mortgage sales, the median LTV ratio rose from 79.6% to 80.3%¹. The ONS said higher LTV ratios indicate borrowers are financing a larger proportion of a property purchase through mortgage borrowing, and therefore contributing smaller deposits relative to purchase price¹.

Source: ONS, Mortgage statistics, UK: 2025¹. The ONS did not report an all-buyer LTV figure for Wales in the quoted material.

The average UK loan-to-income (LTI) ratio increased to 3.5 in 2025 from 3.3 in 2024 for mortgage sales overall, and to 3.6 for first-time buyers¹. The ONS said the average mortgage advanced in 2025 was equivalent to 3.5 times the borrower's income¹. Both measures remained below their 2022 peaks of 3.7 and 3.8 respectively¹. Among the 360 local authorities with comparable first-time buyer data for 2024 and 2025, 344 recorded an increase in the LTI ratio, 6 were unchanged and 10 recorded a decrease¹.

Why it matters for households

The figures describe what happened in the mortgage market in 2025 rather than setting out costs for individual borrowers. They show that buyers completing in 2025 borrowed a larger share of property value than in 2024: a median first-time buyer LTV of 85.6% means the mortgage covered that share of the purchase price, against 85.0% the year before¹. The ONS said the first-time buyer LTV ratio was the highest since before the 2008 financial crisis¹.

The LTI figures indicate that the average mortgage advanced in 2025 was 3.5 times the borrower's income, and 3.6 times for first-time buyers¹. The ONS said the 2025 increases followed reductions in 2023 and 2024, when higher interest rates meant borrowers would have to pay more for their loans¹. The household borrowing figures set out how mortgage debt sits alongside consumer credit.

Regional differences are wide. A first-time buyer in the North East recorded a median LTV of 89.8%, against 80.2% in London¹. The ONS said local authorities including Blackpool, Burnley, Mansfield, South Tyneside, Sunderland, North Lanarkshire, Dundee City, Blaenau Gwent and Merthyr Tydfil recorded first-time buyer ratios of around 90%, indicating buyers there often needed around a 10% deposit¹. In London, first-time buyer LTV ratios were 70.0% in the City of London, 72.5% in Kensington and Chelsea, 73.6% in Islington and 74.2% in Hackney¹.

What happens next

The ONS lists its next release as September 2027¹. The bulletin is described as official statistics in development, drawing on the Financial Conduct Authority's Mortgage Product Sales Dataset (PSD001)¹. The ONS said the accompanying datasets include additional data on Right to Buy mortgages, length of mortgage term, age of borrower, median loan value, median income and median property value¹.