Buy-to-let rates are falling, but Huntingdonshire landlords refinancing this year still face a bigger jump than the headlines suggest.

Why are buy-to-let mortgage rates falling in 2026?

The Bank of England held Bank Rate at 3.75 percent when it met on 18 June, and markets currently expect it to hold again at the next meeting. With borrowing costs stable, lenders have room to compete on price. The Mortgage Works, Rely, HSBC and Coventry have all announced cuts since the spring, and specialist lenders including Molo Finance, Vida Homeloans and The Mortgage Lender have introduced new fixed products aimed squarely at landlords remortgaging this year.

UK Finance's Q1 2026 figures show the average rate on a new buy-to-let loan at 4.71 percent, six basis points lower than the previous quarter and 29 basis points lower than a year earlier. Across the wider fixed-rate buy-to-let book, the average sits higher, at around 5.4 to 5.8 percent, reflecting deals taken out at different points over the last few years rather than today's best pricing.

Why does refinancing still cost more, if rates are falling?

Falling is relative. A landlord who fixed a buy-to-let mortgage in 2021 or 2022, when two and five-year rates commonly sat between 1.5 and 2.5 percent, is not refinancing into today's cheapest deal. They are refinancing into a market where even a strong new rate is two to three times higher than the one it replaces. The rate cuts through June and July are real, and worth shopping for, but they soften the landing rather than remove it.

For an interest-only landlord loan, that gap shows up directly in monthly payments. On a typical patch buy-to-let mortgage of around £150,000, moving from a 2 percent rate to a 4.7 percent rate adds roughly £340 a month in interest, before any change in loan size or product fees.

What does UK Finance expect for the rest of 2026?

UK Finance's own forecast is measured rather than bullish. It expects a broadly flat picture for buy-to-let lending across 2026, with additional tax and regulatory changes, including the ongoing impact of Section 24 mortgage interest restrictions, likely to constrain further growth even as remortgaging activity remains strong and demand for new purchases levels off. In other words, the 2026 story is existing landlords refinancing at scale, not a wave of new buy-to-let purchases.

That matches what our Huntingdon letting team and Brampton letting team are hearing directly: more landlords calling about remortgage timing and rental income calculations, fewer asking about adding a second or third property to a portfolio this year.

What should landlords across the patch do before their deal ends?

• Most lenders let you lock in a new rate three to six months before your current deal ends. Check the exact date and start comparing early rather than rolling onto a lender's standard variable rate by default.
• Re-run your rental cover calculation at the new rate. Since the Renters' Rights Act limits rent increases to one Section 13 review a year, a rate rise cannot simply be passed straight through mid-tenancy.
• Compare a product transfer with your existing lender against a full remortgage. Product transfers are usually faster and avoid a fresh valuation, but a remortgage can sometimes unlock a meaningfully better rate if your loan-to-value has improved.
• Factor in arrangement fees. Several of the lowest headline rates on the market this summer carry large flat fees, which change the true cost depending on loan size.

Our buy-to-let service works alongside your broker to keep rental valuations current, so the figures you take to a lender reflect today's market rather than the rent last reviewed a year or two ago.

What this means for landlords across Huntingdonshire.

The patch has a large base of long-standing buy-to-let owners in St Ives, Huntingdon, Brampton and the surrounding villages, many of whom fixed their current deal well before rates rose. For that group, 2026 is the year the maturity dates catch up with them. The practical picture is not alarming, rents across the patch have continued to rise this year, which helps absorb higher mortgage costs, but it is a real change in the monthly numbers that is worth planning for rather than discovering at renewal.

As of July 2026, the direction of travel is gently favourable: rates are easing, lenders are competing again, and UK Finance reports arrears falling rather than rising. That is a materially better position than landlords faced in 2023, even if it is not yet back to where deals were priced in 2021.