A couple of weeks ago, our team at Oportfolio Mortgages had the pleasure of welcoming Abi Muazu, business development manager for Barclays mortgages into our Putney mortgage brokerage. As part of our ongoing commitment to building close relationships with mortgage...
Louis Mason
Halifax Increases 2-Year and 5-Year Fixed Mortgage Rates
Halifax announced yesterday an increase in interest rates across its 2-year and 5-year fixed mortgage products. Borrowers will see rate hikes ranging between 0.11% and 0.24%, effective immediately. The changes come as part of a broader shift in mortgage pricing, with...
Capital Gains Tax Changes: What It Means For Landlords And Investors
In recent months, landlords have been anxiously following developments around potential changes to Capital Gains Tax (CGT), fearing further strain on an already challenging buy-to-let market. This apprehension comes at a time when the market is facing serious...
What Is Income Flex Mortgage Criteria?
One of the biggest issues that new borrowers and existing mortgage owners struggle with nowadays is mortgage affordability. Yes, you may be able to afford a £1,000 a month rental payment or your existing mortgage of £2,000 a month, but unfortunately this means nothing...
UK House Price Growth Down For 10th Month In a Row
New data released by E.surv in their June 2023 House Price Index confirms that UK house price growth has slowed again for the 10th month in a row. What does this mean exactly? And what can we expect from UK house prices moving forward. Is owning a property right now...
UK Two-Year Fixed Mortgage Rates Higher Than 2008
In a somewhat concerning development for prospective home buyers and existing borrowers, two-year fixed mortgage rates in the UK have climbed to their highest level since the 2008 financial crisis. Also surpassing the peak at the release of the mini-budget. Recent...
Should I Make Mortgage Overpayments?
Taking a slightly different angle to the mortgage news that most people are reporting about people struggling to pay their mortgages and record high interest rates, we are going to talk in this blog about people who can afford to make mortgage overpayments on their...
Halifax Offers Extra Support For High Net Worth Mortgages
Halifax for intermediaries, the lending channel accessible only by mortgage brokers, have announced a new initiative to support mortgage applications for high net worth mortgages. Referred to as 'premier customers', mortgages for higher loans need extra care and...
Accord Offers Joint Borrower Sole Proprietor Mortgages
Today mortgage lender Accord Mortgages announced that they will now offer Joint Borrower Sole Proprietor mortgages. This new revelation from Accord is great news for people looking to purchase their first property, who might fall short of the regular high mortgage...
Precise Mortgages Makes Big Changes To Products
Specialist mortgage lender Precise Mortgages, part of the Charter Court Financial Services Group, has announced that they are pulling their current buy-to-let and residential product ranges and will replace them with new updated products. It seems that the lender...
Property Down Valuation and What You Can Do
It’s worth as much as someone is willing to pay… or is it? This week we have had three separate property purchase cases where properties have been significantly down valued by the lender's valuers at mortgage application stage. What does a property down valuation...
Variable Mortgage Rates Increase By As Much As 0.50%
New figures on average UK mortgage rates released by Uswitch this afternoon show that some rates have increased by as much as 0.50% in a week. This latest shocking change, specifically to variable mortgage rates comes after several weeks of constant rate increases and...
Leeds Building Society Help Shared Ownership Homeowners
For a number of years now, shared ownership has been gaining traction and becoming more and more popular for younger buyers. Despite recent drops in property prices, the average price of a property in the UK is over £250,000 and in places like London this is doubled...
Oportfolio Helps Client Increase Maximum Mortgage Loan
One of the major stumbling blocks that mortgage borrowers are faced with in this difficult market is mortgage affordability. Lenders have tightened their affordability tests, and this has led to many borrowers struggling to get the level of mortgage that they require...
Is Limited Company Buy To Let Lending Going To Increase?
The UK finds itself somewhat in the middle of a mortgage crisis. Mortgages are becoming more and more expensive and people are struggling to keep up with rising mortgage interest rates and repayments. We hear a lot about residential borrowers in the news, but often...
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If you have any questions about UK mortgage news or anything you’ve read then please get in touch. We’d love to hear from you.