Why a looming remortgage crunch could squeeze almost every type of homeowner
Market analysis from Barclays suggests 2026 is shaping up to be a pivotal year for remortgaging, with a sharp rise in borrowers reaching the end of their current deals between January and June. Residential mortgages worth £152.5 billion – a 25% increase on 2025 – are due to mature in that six‑month window, alongside £25.2 billion of buy‑to‑let loans, up 22% year on year. That’s a huge cohort of homeowners and landlords who will soon be shopping around for their next deal.
Many of those borrowers will be coming off ultra‑low fixed rates or, at the other end of the spectrum, off the emergency fixes taken out at 6% or higher when rates spiked. Lenders have started to trim pricing as funding costs come down, and there is likely to be intense competition for remortgage business. But there is still a clear divide between borrowers who engage early and those who wait until the higher payments have already hit their bank accounts.
According to Aaron Strutt, product and communications director at Trinity Financial, too many people are still leaving it too late – particularly where there isn’t a proactive broker relationship. “Many borrowers leave it late especially if their broker doesn’t contact them, they did their own mortgage, or they don’t open their emails,” he told Mortgage Introducer. Starting the process earlier, he argued, is about more than just bagging a headline rate: “It still makes sense to start the mortgage process well in advance so borrowers know what the rates are roughly and to get an idea of what their monthly repayments will be changing to.”
Lenders are making it easier for organised borrowers to lock something in ahead of time. “More of the lenders allow rate switches within four months now and remortgage offers are valid for longer,” Strutt notes. That gives customers a wider window to secure a product, ride out some of the short‑term volatility and still retain the option to pivot if a cheaper deal appears before completion.
As for who should be most worried in this “bumper” remortgage year, Strutt is reluctant to single out one at‑risk cohort. “I think it is hard to single out a group or type of person who should be particularly concerned, the cost of living crisis and pretty constant tax hikes have made times tough for many home owners in general,” he says. While stretched first‑time buyers, leveraged landlords and borrowers in higher‑cost regions have all come under pressure, the combination of rising everyday expenses and higher tax burdens has left a much broader swathe of the market feeling the squeeze.
For brokers, that creates both a challenge and an opportunity. On the one hand, more clients will be anxious about affordability and the size of the jump from their current payments. On the other, longer offer periods and more flexible rate‑switch policies mean advisers have more tools to manage those transitions – provided conversations start early enough. As the 2026 remortgage wave gathers pace, timing, communication and proactive advice may prove just as important as the exact rate on the page.
