Mortgage cancellations were up 6.1% to 35,144 in the first quarter, according to the latest Bank of England data analysed by Novus Strategy.

This was despite a 2.7% fall in the number of mortgage approvals in the final quarter of last year compared with the same quarter a year earlier. The value of cancellations between January and March was up 12.3% from £7.7 billion in Q1 2025.

Novus said each of these cancellations in Q1 will have incurred processing, valuation and underwriting costs regularly running into thousands of pounds per case, none of which is recoverable.

Mortgages are cancelled for various reasons, and the current volatile rate environment is likely to be a key factor, Novus said.

Novus chief executive Claire Van der Zant said: “The sheer weight of cancellations continues to inflict a lot of pain on lenders.

“This is one of the most-watched metrics inside banks and building societies, and these industry-wide figures illustrate the scale of the problem but also the opportunity.

“Reducing the volume and value of cancellations is one of the easiest ways lenders can boost their bottom line over the next decade but the solution is not an inward-facing one. A revolution is unfolding in homebuying, but it’s one that requires everyone involved to take an ecosystem view, not least because the homebuying journey is being redesigned.”