As mortgage brokers, we are constantly keeping a keen eye on mortgage rates as they change almost on a daily basis. Despite some promising rate reductions in the first couple of months of 2023, in recent weeks, the trend has been toward upward movement, reflecting...
All the latest breaking UK mortgage and protection news, updated daily by industry experts.
Premiums Slashed on Guardian Income Protection Policies
Guardian Financial Services announced a significant reduction in premiums for its Income Protection policies on Friday. The decision, follows a thorough assessment of market dynamics and aims to ensure Guardian remains at the forefront of providing accessible and...
Average Mortgage Term For First-Time Buyers On The Rise
First-time buyer (FTB) mortgages in the UK are experiencing notable shifts, with recent data from TSB shedding light on some new emerging trends. According to TSB's latest findings, the average first-time buyer mortgage term reached 32 years in 2023, marking a steady...
Nationwide Cuts 90% and 95% Mortgage Products
Following on from our blog post yesterday about Coventry Building Society lowering 90% and 95% mortgage products for first time buyers, Nationwide building society have also announced that they will be reducing rates on their own 90% and 95% mortgage products. These...
Up To 95% Mortgages For First Time Buyers
Historically it has always been tough to buy your first property as an average first time buyer. Earning enough as a young professional to borrow a large enough mortgage, saving a large enough deposit whilst also paying rent every month, and generally getting your...
Agreed Property Sales Return To Pre-Pandemic Levels
There seems to be a lot of conflicting information on the internet at the moment, surrounding the property market and mortgages. Are rates coming up or going down? Are property prices falling or rising still? Is the property market stagnating or thriving? The simple...
Scottish Widows Increase Mortgage Income Cap
Mortgage lender Scottish Widows have just announced that they will be introducing some changes to their mortgage income cap for affordability calculations on straight mortgages and remortgages. What does this mean exactly? It means that Scottish Widows will be...
More Rate Reductions Despite Base Rate Hike
Despite the Bank of England raising the country's base rate to 4.25% at the end of March 2023, it seems that this hasn't really deterred UK mortgage lenders from continuing with rate reductions. Mortgage rates sky-rocketed at the end of 2022 as the Bank of England...
Mortgage Product Watch – April Week 1
We are only three days into April 2023 and we are already seeing lots of lenders changing and improving their mortgage product offering. We are however also seeing a few lenders who have increased some of their rates. Why are they doing this? As we have already...
HSBC Reduces Every Single Initial Mortgage Rate
In another positive step forward for the UK mortgage market, mortgage titan HSBC have announced that as of Monday the 3rd of April they will be reducing rates on all of their initial rate products. This great move forward for the lender comes after a period of...
UK Mortgage Approvals Are On The Rise
From data produced by the Bank of England, we can confirm that UK mortgage approvals are on the upward trend after months and months of struggle. In recent months even mortgage affordability, let alone proceeding cases, has been on a decline as the cost of living...
The Cost Of Being A Landlord Up 76% In A Year
New research carried out has revealed that the overall cost of being a landlord and maintaining a buy-to-let mortgage has increased by 76% in the last 12-months alone, as mortgage interest rates have soared and the cost of living has gripped property investors. There...
Big Barclays Mortgage Rate Changes Announced
In another very welcomed communication to mortgage brokers, Barclays bank have announced some new major Barclays mortgage rate changes to their existing products. These changes come as a welcome surprise to both advisors and borrowers after the country took another...
Fixed UK Mortgage Rates Will Go Down
In a confirmation of what we at Oportfolio have been saying for a while now, another mortgage expert from property website Rightmove has announced that he believes that fixed UK mortgage rates will almost certainly go down. And we could see these rate reductions...
Virgin Money Introduces Armed Forces Help To Buy
At Oportfolio, we are keen supporters of anyone who dedicates their life to protecting our country and our freedom as UK citizens. That's why we offer special perks and discounts on our mortgage advice whenever we help people serving in the armed forces. Today we...
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