Mortgage News, Insights & Advice
All the latest UK mortgage news, insights and advice from the world of mortgage lending and Oportfolio

Nationwide Housing Affordability Report: First-Time Buyer Challenges
The housing market in 2024 offered glimmers of hope for prospective buyers, with Nationwide Building Society’s latest Housing Affordability Report highlighting slight improvements in affordability. However, unfortunately beneath these modest gains lies a sobering...

Can You Borrow Six Times Income With A Helping Hand Mortgage?
The Helping Hand mortgage now potentially allows first-time buyers to borrow up to six times their income. This can increase borrowing capacity by up to 33% more than Nationwide’s standard lending limits, offering a significant boost to those looking at buying their...

UK Mortgage Market Changes: Principality and Metro Bank Updates
In a fast-moving mortgage market, the latest developments from Principality Intermediaries and Metro Bank signal yet more turbulence for borrowers and brokers alike. Principality’s decision to withdraw several residential mortgage products and Metro Bank’s upcoming...
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...
Capital Gains Tax Increased For Landlords
A new update to capital gains tax rules coming to the UK within the next few weeks has left both professional and amateur landlords worried about a potentially crippling tax bill if and when they decide to sell a property. A new change in the law that will see the tax...
Will Base Rate Rise Impact Tracker Mortgages More?
Last week, the Bank of England, England's central bank based in Threadneedle Street London, announced that they would once again be raising the base rate for the 11th time in a row. A strategy that the bank's monetary policy committee have been deploying in an attempt...
Bank of England Raise Interest Rates For 11th Time
This afternoon, the monetary policy committee of the Bank of England has announced their intention to raise interest rates from the 11th time in a row after an unexpected rise in inflation. Inflation, which is a general increase in prices and decrease in the...
Coventry B/S Improve UK Buy-To-Let Products
Coventry building society for intermediaries have sent out a communication this morning to mortgage brokers across the UK, announcing that they have made some changes to their buy-to-let mortgage offerings and also their standard UK residential mortgage products. The...
Bank Of Ireland Improve Bespoke Mortgage Rates
Fantastic news coming out of mortgage lender Bank of Ireland this morning as they announce that they are launching some new exclusive bespoke mortgage products, available through mortgage brokers like Oportfolio. These new rates are a very welcome string to Bank of...
HMRC Says Property Transactions Down In February
Data released by HMRC this month has revealed that official statistics show property transactions were down in February 2023 compared to the same time period in February 2022. A property transaction is both the sale and purchase of property in the UK, reflecting the...
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