Millions of homeowners could be overpaying on mortgages due to 'dodgy data'

8 June 2025, 09:51

Millions of homeowners could be forking out too much on their mortgages due to unreliable data from the UK's main statistics body, it has been claimed.

According to Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey, a lack of trust data experts at the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has a 'bearing' on its decisions the bank makes on interest rates.

Mr Bailey told a select committee earlier this week attempts by the ONS to improve the reliability of its figures are 'a work in progress'.

But he claimed there was a 'very severe health warning' about the data.

It could imply that scepticism around unreliable data could be delaying cuts to interest rate cuts, Mailonline reports.

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This would inevitably have a knock-on mortgage payments, impacting millions of borrowers.

The ONS has reportedly had issues with its figures on jobs and wages in recent years.

It has allegedly struggled to find enough surveys respondents, with smaller sample sizes ramping up the risk of inaccuracies in the data.

However, Sarah Breeden, deputy governor at the Bank of England, said other data sources were also being used to inform the bank's decisions.

That includes figures from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), although its data does not cover self-employed people who make up a core part of the labour market.

It comes as new rules for lenders have been introduced.

According to UK estate agent Savills, adjustments to stress testing practices could see property prices spike by between 5% and 7.5% over the next five years.

The estate agent also predicts that the average cost of a deposit required by a first-time buyer could drop from £58,000 to £45,000 over the same period.

Lenders perform stress tests to see if borrowers could cope with surging interest rates or lower income.

They have been allowed to adjust their stress testing based on market expectations.

Those who have tweaked their stress tests recently include Halifax, Santander and Barclays. While this has allowed some buyers to borrow more - it could lead to a surge in demand that may hike up house prices.