How to find the best 5-year fixed rate mortgage
The table above is sorted by interest rate, which is the right place to start but the wrong place to stop. The cheapest headline rate on a 5-year fix frequently carries a product fee of £999–£1,499, and on a smaller loan that fee can wipe out the saving entirely. A deal at 0.15% higher with no fee often works out cheaper over the 5 years.
The honest comparison is total cost over the deal period: the monthly payments you'll actually make for 5 years, plus every fee you pay to get the deal, minus any cashback. Two products with the same rate can differ by four figures once fees, valuation costs and legal work are counted.
Over five years, a small rate difference compounds into real money: on a £250,000 repayment mortgage, 0.20% is roughly £25 a month and about £1,500 across the deal. That is usually larger than the gap between a fee-free product and a fee-paying one — which is precisely why the fee-paying deal so often wins on a five-year fix, and so often loses on a two-year one.
Check the APRC, then ignore it
APRC assumes you keep the mortgage for its full term and roll onto the lender's standard variable rate afterwards. Almost nobody does that. It is useful for spotting a deal with hidden costs, not for ranking deals you intend to switch away from.
Confirm the loan-to-value band
Rates are tiered by LTV. A product advertised at a headline rate may only be available up to 60% LTV — the same lender's 85% product will be priced noticeably higher.
Match the buyer type
Lenders price the identical product differently for a first-time buyer, a home mover and a remortgage. Use the selector above the table so you're comparing rates you could actually be offered.
Is a 5-year fix right for you?
Five years is the length most people should at least seriously consider, and the reason is boring: it removes the mortgage from your list of things to worry about for half a decade. You know the payment. You can budget around it. You aren't remortgaging during a period when rates might be doing something unpleasant.
The trade-off is commitment. For five years you are tied to this lender at this rate, and getting out early costs money. If rates fall substantially you'll watch other people refinance while you don't. That's the deal — you're buying certainty and paying for it with flexibility.
Strong fit
You're settled in the property, your income is stable, and a fixed payment for five years genuinely helps you plan. This describes most remortgaging homeowners.
Reasonable fit
You might move within five years but the mortgage is portable and your circumstances are unlikely to stop the lender re-approving you on a new property.
Poor fit
You expect to repay a large lump sum, sell without buying again, or your employment is genuinely unpredictable. Early repayment charges over five years are the largest of any mainstream fix.
Early repayment charges — the thing to actually check
This is where five-year fixes differ most from each other, and where the least attention gets paid. A typical structure tapers: around 5% of the outstanding balance in year one, stepping down roughly a point a year to 1% in year five. On a £250,000 balance, that first-year charge is about £12,500.
But some lenders don't taper — they charge a flat percentage for the entire five years. Two deals with identical rates can therefore differ by thousands of pounds if you need to exit in year four. Before you commit, find the ERC table in the product's key facts document and read it. It takes two minutes and it is the highest-value two minutes in the whole process.
Two things soften the risk. Almost all lenders allow overpayments of up to 10% of the balance per year with no charge, which is enough for most people. And most fixes are portable, so moving house doesn't automatically trigger the ERC — though porting requires the lender to approve you and the new property afresh, so it is not a guarantee.
Why 5-year fixes are sometimes cheaper than 2-year
It surprises people, but it happens regularly. Lenders price fixed mortgages off interest-rate swaps, and when the market expects the base rate to fall, longer-dated swaps price below shorter-dated ones. The lender is content to lock in today's return for five years, so the five-year mortgage can come out cheaper than the two-year.
When that's the case, the five-year fix is unusually good value: you get the lower rate and the longer certainty at the same time. When it's the other way round — the two-year priced below the five — you're being asked to pay a premium for certainty, and it's worth deciding consciously whether that premium is worth it to you rather than defaulting either way.
5-year fixed rates by loan-to-value
The single biggest driver of the rate you'll be offered is not the lender you pick, it's how much equity you have. Five-year fixes are tiered by LTV, and the gap between the top and bottom bands is usually far wider than the gap between the cheapest and most expensive lender within a band.
If you already know your LTV, go straight to the relevant page — the table there is filtered to deals you could actually be offered, rather than including headline rates you can't access.
60% LTV or lower
The cheapest tier. If you hold 40% or more equity you can access essentially the whole market.
75% LTV
Where most remortgaging homeowners sit, and the most fiercely competed band in the market.
90% LTV
A 10% deposit. Pricing steps up noticeably and lender criteria tighten.
Common questions
What is a 5-year fixed rate mortgage?
Your interest rate is locked for five years, so your monthly payment stays the same for that period regardless of what happens to the Bank of England base rate or the wider market. When the five years end you revert to the lender's standard variable rate unless you switch to a new deal.
Is a 5-year fixed rate mortgage a good idea?
It's the right choice if you value a predictable payment and expect to stay in the property, which describes most homeowners. It's the wrong choice if you're likely to need to repay the mortgage or exit the deal early, because five-year early repayment charges are the largest of the mainstream fixes.
What happens if I move house during a 5-year fix?
Most five-year fixes are portable, meaning you can take the deal to a new property without paying the early repayment charge. Porting is not automatic — the lender reassesses your income, the new property and its own lending criteria, and if you're borrowing more, the additional amount comes at current rates rather than your fixed one.
Can I overpay on a 5-year fix?
Almost always, up to a limit — 10% of the outstanding balance per year is the common allowance, and some lenders are more generous. Overpaying reduces both the interest you pay and your loan-to-value, which can put you in a cheaper band when you come to remortgage.
Should I fix for 5 years or 2?
It comes down to how much you value payment certainty against the chance of a cheaper deal sooner, and how likely your circumstances are to change. Compare the total cost of each over the same horizon, including fees, and factor in that a two-year cycle means paying switching costs more than twice as often.
How current are the rates on this page?
We collect product data from the lenders we track from their published information and refresh it regularly, so the five-year deals above reflect our most recent check of each lender's published range. Lenders can withdraw or reprice a deal at any time, sometimes with a few hours' notice, and a rate shown here is not an offer — availability depends on your circumstances, the property and the lender's own criteria.