THE PROPERTY FILTER TAKE
More than a million borrowers are leaving two-year fixed rates priced at an average of 4.81%, while the average standard variable rate stood at 7.13% in July 2026.
On a £200,000 interest-only buy-to-let, that gap is worth roughly £277 a month, or £3,320 a year, and it drags rental cover down towards break-even.
Run the numbers on your own reversion date and consider speaking to your broker about the options before the fix ends.
Just under 1.1 million homeowners are rolling off two-year fixed rates this year at an average of 4.81%. Compare the Market puts the count at 1,095,905 (Mortgage Strategy, 1 September 2026), and This is Money reported the same 4.81% average on 31 August 2026. The average standard variable rate (SVR, the fallback rate a mortgage reverts to when a fixed deal ends) stood at 7.13% in July 2026. That figure comes from Moneyfacts, reported by Mortgage Strategy on 1 September 2026. The residential numbers are bad enough. On a buy-to-let, where interest is usually the whole mortgage payment, the same gap bites harder.
What does an SVR reversion cost a buy-to-let each month?
Here is the arithmetic. It is illustrative rather than a market quote, and I have stated every input. Take a £200,000 interest-only buy-to-let mortgage. The average fixed-rate buy-to-let mortgage was 5.47% on 2 September 2026, according to Moneyfacts figures published by Which? on 6 September 2026.
At 5.47%, the interest is £10,940 a year, which is £912 a month. At 7.13%, it is £14,260 a year, or £1,188 a month. So the gap is £277 a month and £3,320 a year on the same debt. In rate terms that is 1.66 percentage points, and none of it buys you a better product.
Your own balance, rate and term will differ. It is worth testing them against our free buy-to-let stress test calculator well before the reversion date lands.
How does a reversion rate hit your rental cover?
Rental cover is the rent divided by the mortgage interest. Lenders measure it as ICR (interest coverage ratio, the multiple of mortgage interest a lender wants the rent to cover). It is the number that decides whether a remortgage fits at all, and there is more on how lenders test it in our guides to negotiation and property finance.
Stay with that illustrative £200,000 loan and assume rent of £1,200 a month. At 5.47%, interest of £912 gives cover of about 132%. Let the fix lapse to 7.13% and interest of £1,188 gives cover of about 101%. The rent has not moved an inch. The cover has fallen by roughly 31 percentage points.
The exact ratio a lender wants depends on your tax position and its own criteria, so your broker can confirm which figure applies to you. Our free property resources hub covers what to gather before a refinance.
Where do buy-to-let and reversion rates sit now?
Bank Rate was held at 3.75% on 30 July 2026, according to the Bank of England. Fixed buy-to-let pricing has been steady alongside it. Which? reported on 6 September 2026 that the average fixed-rate buy-to-let mortgage did not change between August and September, citing Moneyfacts.
Revert rates on the best-buy buy-to-let deals listed by Which? on 2 September 2026 ranged from 6.44% to 8.24%, again sourced to Moneyfacts. A lapsed fix does not land you on one tidy number. It lands you on whatever your own lender happens to charge.
The Compare the Market data names four groups inside that cohort (Mortgage Strategy, 1 September 2026). It includes 122,526 first-time buyers and 111,349 home movers or second-time buyers. It also includes 690,738 who remortgaged with their existing provider and 122,832 who moved to a new one. Sajni Shah, a money expert at Compare the Market, said many could face "a significant increase in their monthly repayments" by rolling onto their lender's SVR.
Note: the original This is Money report of 31 August 2026 was not reachable at the time of writing. The figures above come from its published summary and from corroboration in Mortgage Strategy, Which? and Bank of England data. Whether a two-year or five-year fix suits a portfolio is a separate question, and our property investment strategies hub sets out how landlords weigh it.
Key takeaways
More than a million homeowners are coming off two-year fixed rates priced at an average of 4.81% (This is Money, 31 August 2026, citing Compare the Market).
The average SVR was 7.13% in July 2026 against an average fixed buy-to-let rate of 5.47% on 2 September 2026, a gap of 1.66 percentage points (Moneyfacts).
On an illustrative £200,000 interest-only buy-to-let loan, that gap costs £277 a month and £3,320 a year.
In the same illustration, rental cover on £1,200 of rent falls from about 132% to about 101%.
Bank Rate was held at 3.75% on 30 July 2026, so reversion pricing is not being driven by a fresh Bank Rate rise.
Frequently asked questions
What is a standard variable rate?
How much more does an SVR cost than a new buy-to-let fix?
Does an SVR reversion affect whether I can remortgage?
When can I start arranging a new deal?
