# Housing market ‘struggling for momentum amid global uncertainty’

By David Fell — 2026-03-12

David Fell, lead analyst at Hamptons, said: “Mortgage pricing is particularly sensitive to higher borrowing cost expectations.

“And in the last week, markets have started to believe that higher interest rates may be required to tame energy price inflation.

“This shift has started to feed through into the mortgage rates being secured by borrowers, halting, at least temporarily, their mostly downward trajectory over the last two years.

“Around 65% of mortgage products currently on the market saw pricing increase between January and March, rising by an average of 0.18%.

“This has pushed up the average rate being secured by first-time buyers to 4.45% so far in March – an increase from 4.41% in January.

“And there was a similar fall in the numbers securing the very cheapest deals, with 11% of new buyers locking in a rate of below 4% so far in March, down from 15% in January.

“If energy prices remain elevated, they have the potential to halt or even reverse some of the falls in interest rates which have taken place over the last two years.”

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