An estimated 550 mortgage deals were pulled last week according to Moneyfacts – about 7.5% of the total.

The independent mortgage monitor says this is the fastest reshaping of the mortgage market since the Liz truss mini-Budget in autumn 2022.

By the end of the week the average two-year homeowner mortgage rate was the highest since last July at 5.10% – up from 4.87% just five days earlier.

The average five-year homeowner mortgage rate on Friday was 5.19% – that’s up from 4.98% at the start of last week and the highest since April 2025.

Adam French, head of consumer finance at Moneyfacts, warns that even the cheapest rates are shooting higher.

He says: “It’s unwelcome news for borrowers, as hopes of steadily falling mortgage rates have collapsed and given way to a much more uncertain outlook.

“The destination is now heavily dependent on how global markets and inflation expectations evolve in response to the conflict in the Middle East.”

Mortgage activity during February resulted in a significant fall in the average shelf-life of a mortgage to 14 days, recorded on the first of March – again, according to Moneyfacts.

In a complete turn-around from the seasonal slowdown during January, the market is now entering a period of uncertainty amid global pressures.

The last time the shelf-life was as short was at the start of August 2023, at 13 days, a month prior it was just 12 days, a record low (shelf-life captured since 2011). As a comparison, the average shelf-life was 15 days at the start of October 2022, when the ‘mini-Budget’ had an unprecedented impact on mortgage choice.

Overall product choice dipped month-on-month, but remained above 7,000 options.

Moneyfacts anticipates that lenders may well pull more products until the future path of interest rates becomes clearer, but choice typically bounces back after short-term unrest.