Welcome to the July 2026 edition of The Money Statistics, The Money Charity’s comprehensive monthly round-up of statistics showing how we use money in the UK, kindly funded by Vanquis.
Striking Numbers from the July Money Statistics:
Average house prices in the UK increased by 2.7% in the year to May 2026 to £271,000. This was down from the revised estimate of 3.9% in the year to April.
Zoopla’s latest data shows that 44% of UK homes listed for sale over the past three years failed to find a buyer. Homes sold in the first quarter of 2026 achieved an average of 3.5% below their original asking price, equivalent to around £18,800.
The ‘effective’ interest rate (the actual interest paid) on newly drawn mortgages increased to 4.22% in May, up from 4.08% in April.
Average UK monthly private rent increased by 3.3%, to £1,388, in the year to June 2026. UK private rent annual inflation has generally been slowing since December 2024.
From 15 July, Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) products are regulated by the FCA, giving consumers protections in line with other forms of credit.
According to the FCA, the BNPL market has grown significantly in recent years, from £60 million in 2017 to over £13 billion in 2024. In the year to May 2024, 10.9 million UK adults (20%) used this form of credit, up from 8.8 million (17%) from the year to May 2022.
The new rules for BNPL came against a backdrop of continued growth in consumer borrowing. In the year to May 2026, outstanding consumer credit increased by 7.0% according to the Bank of England, while outstanding levels of credit card borrowing increased by 7.3%.
The effective rate on interest-charging credit cards was 21.45% in May, up from 21.20% in April.
Get the full picture and many more fascinating facts about money in the UK in our monthly Money Statistics. Previous editions can be found in the archive.
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