Monthly cost of a £250,000 mortgage in the UK (2026)
At the Bank of England's latest published quoted rate of 4.32% for a 75% loan-to-value 5-year fixed mortgage (April 2026), borrowing £250,000 over 25 years costs roughly £1,364 a month. Stretch the term to 35 years and the payment falls to £1,155 — but the interest paid more than doubles. Below: the full payment matrix, the rate-sensitivity stress test, where in the UK a £250,000 loan actually buys a home, and the stamp duty that lands on top.
The headline number
At today's quoted rate, a 25-year repayment mortgage on £250,000 costs £1,364.20 a month — the figure most lenders' calculators will land on for a borrower with a 25% deposit on standard 2026 terms. The number moves by roughly £75-£170 a month with each combination of rate and term we tested.
| Term \ Rate | 4.32% | 4.50% | 5.00% | 5.50% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25 years | £1,364 | £1,390 | £1,461 | £1,535 |
| 30 years | £1,240 | £1,267 | £1,342 | £1,419 |
| 35 years | £1,155 | £1,183 | £1,262 | £1,343 |
Source: standard amortisation formula. Bank of England, Quoted household interest rates IUMTLMV, latest release April 2026.
The bolded cell is the live BoE rate for a 5-year fix at 75% LTV. The rest of the grid lets you eyeball what happens if your specific deal — higher LTV, shorter fix, residential vs buy-to-let — prices differently.
Where rates have been
The BoE's 75% LTV 5-year fix series shows the cost of borrowing has eased over the past six months: 4.51% in November 2025 → 4.42% January → 4.39% February → 4.35% March → 4.32% April. That's about £30 a month less on a £250,000 25-year loan than six months ago — useful, but the swing is small compared with a 1-percentage-point shift either way.
Stress-testing the same loan at +1pp (5.32%) adds roughly £140 a month on a 25-year term; +2pp (6.32%) adds about £290. These aren't forecasts — the Bank's own quoted-rate file is the only source we cite for the live rate — but anyone budgeting around a future remortgage should price in a wider band than today's number.
Term length is the bigger lever — and the bigger trap
Across rates, stretching the term from 25 to 35 years drops the monthly bill by about £200. That looks like an obvious win on a budget spreadsheet. The lifetime cost tells a different story.
| Term | Monthly @ 4.32% | Total paid | Interest paid |
|---|---|---|---|
| 25 years | £1,364 | £409,249 | £159,249 |
| 30 years | £1,240 | £446,442 | £196,442 |
| 35 years | £1,155 | £485,280 | £235,280 |
Extending from 25 to 35 years adds £76,031 of interest at today's rate — roughly 30% more than the headline loan, in exchange for £209 less per month. The Financial Conduct Authority flagged term lengthening as a growing concern when affordability pressure rose in 2023-24, precisely because the monthly relief is visible while the lifetime cost is not.
The right term for any given borrower depends on age, income trajectory, overpayment flexibility and whether the lender allows fee-free reductions later. None of those are decisions a guide can make for you.
What income clears £250,000?
UK lenders typically cap residential lending at around 4.5× income under the FCA's loan-to-income flow limit, with stretches to 5×-5.5× for higher earners at some banks. On a 4.5× multiple, £250,000 of borrowing maps to roughly £55,500 of gross household income — achievable on a single salary in the upper-quartile band, more commonly hit by joint applicants on around £28,000 each.
For comparison, the median full-time gross UK salary was £37,430 in April 2024, per the ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings — so a £250,000 loan sits clearly in joint-buyer or above-median single-earner territory.
For the affordability mechanics in detail, see the guide to joint applicant mortgage affordability.
What £250,000 of borrowing actually buys
The implied purchase price depends entirely on deposit size:
- 90% LTV (10% deposit, £27,800): £277,800 purchase price
- 85% LTV (15% deposit, £44,100): £294,100 purchase price
- 75% LTV (25% deposit, £83,300): £333,300 purchase price
HM Land Registry's price-paid file recorded 47,940 sales between £270,000 and £290,000 across England and Wales in 2025 — the bracket that maps to a £250,000 loan with a 10% deposit. The £330,000-£345,000 bracket, where the same loan with a 25% deposit lands, recorded 26,105 sales. Combined, that's around 9% of all 2025 transactions in the price corridor a £250,000 borrower might actually transact in. The data sample for this piece covers all 848,775 Land Registry transactions logged in 2025.
Postcode areas where the 2025 average sale price clusters in that £270,000-£330,000 corridor — meaning a £250,000 loan can realistically buy a typical home — include:
| Postcode area | 2025 sales | Average price | Council tax Band D 2026-27 |
|---|---|---|---|
| LE2 (Leicester) | 1,233 | £305,169 | £2,528.75 |
| PR4 (Preston rural) | 1,213 | £294,981 | £2,575.74 |
| NG9 (Nottingham/Beeston) | 1,176 | £296,842 | £2,755.39 |
| M3 (central Manchester) | 1,097 | £301,576 | £2,312.04 |
| NN3 (Northampton) | 1,036 | £289,367 | n/a (single LA) |
| PE7 (Peterborough fringe) | 1,110 | £287,764 | £2,293.47 |
| TQ12 (Newton Abbot, Devon) | 920 | £312,640 | £2,470.25 |
Sources: HM Land Registry Price Paid data, 2025 sales; council tax Band D from gov.uk billing-authority data 2026-27.
Type any postcode in the Homecost search box to see what specific properties on a given street last sold for, the EPC-derived energy cost, and the all-in monthly figure including council tax and mortgage at today's BoE rate.
Stamp duty on the corresponding purchase
The £250,000 loan sits very close to a major SDLT inflection: post-April-2025 English rules nil-rate up to £125,000, charge 2% from £125,001 to £250,000, then 5% from £250,001 to £925,000. That makes the corresponding purchase price band sit either side of the 5% slab.
| Purchase price | Standard SDLT | First-time buyer | Additional property |
|---|---|---|---|
| £250,000 | £2,500 | £0 | £15,000 |
| £278,000 (10% deposit) | £3,060 | £0 | £16,960 |
| £300,000 (FTB nil rate ceiling) | £5,000 | £0 | £20,000 |
| £333,000 (25% deposit) | £6,650 | £1,650 | £23,300 |
Source: HMRC: SDLT residential rates, current rules as of 2026.
First-time buyers retain full nil-rate relief up to £300,000, with a taper to £500,000. That means a first-time buyer borrowing £250,000 with a 10% deposit on a £278,000 home pays no stamp duty at all, while a standard buyer pays £3,060 on the same transaction. The first-time buyer relief explained guide walks through the full taper.
The additional-property surcharge — 5% on top of standard SDLT for second homes and buy-to-let — adds £15,000 to £25,000 on the price bands above. For more detail see the additional property stamp duty surcharge guide.
The all-in monthly cost
Mortgage payment is rarely the full picture. For a £278,000 home in Leicester (LE2) bought with a £28,000 deposit and £250,000 loan at 4.32% over 25 years:
| Cost line | Monthly | Annual |
|---|---|---|
| Mortgage payment | £1,364 | £16,371 |
| Council tax (Band D, Leicester) | £211 | £2,529 |
| Energy (EPC C semi, modelled) | £165 | £1,980 |
| Insurance + maintenance (1% reserve) | £232 | £2,780 |
| All-in monthly | £1,972 | £23,660 |
Council tax: gov.uk Band D 2026-27 file. Energy: EPC certificate modelled annual figures use 2012-era methodology and bear a directional rather than absolute relation to today's Ofgem cap.
The mortgage is 69% of the all-in figure. The rest — council tax, energy, insurance, maintenance — is the part most buyers under-budget. The full breakdown by purchase price is in the true cost of buying a £300,000 home guide, the closest pillar piece to this loan size.
Threshold-pair links
This article sits in the middle of a payment-grid cluster. Borrowers comparing budgets either side often want to see both pages:
- Monthly cost of a £200,000 mortgage — one rung below
- Monthly cost of a £300,000 mortgage — one rung above
- All cost-intelligence guides — full series
Caveats
The BoE quoted rate is the advertised rate to new borrowers with a 25% deposit and clean credit. Real offers from individual lenders move daily and depend on LTV, fix length, fee structure, credit profile and product family. The April 2026 figure is the most recent monthly point published at the time of writing — newer files supersede it.
The EPC-derived energy figure uses the methodology built into the EPC framework around 2012; the gap between A and G bands is directional, but the absolute pound figure does not match current Ofgem caps. Council tax assumes Band D — bands B and C carry roughly 7/9 and 8/9 of the Band D charge under the standard ratios.
This is general information drawn from public sources. Speak to a qualified mortgage broker or financial adviser before acting — they can price your specific deal, account for early-repayment charges, and stress-test against your wider finances. A conveyancer confirms SDLT eligibility on completion.
Based on 848,775 HM Land Registry transactions recorded in 2025, the Bank of England's April 2026 quoted-rate file, and gov.uk council-tax billing authority data 2026-27. Data pulled 15 May 2026. See all data-driven guides.