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

Are Buy-to-Let Mortgage Rates Set to Rise in 2025?
Buy-to-let mortgage rates have been a focal point for landlords and property investors over the past year, with notable fluctuations influenced by economic events, swap rate markets, and broader financial pressures. Recent analysis by specialist lender Octane Capital...

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...
Virgin Money Makes Surprising Mortgage Rate Increase
For the last few week we have been reporting on the welcome rate reductions coming from most lenders following the dramatic rate hike of 2022. For many mortgage brokers, it looked like things were finally returning to somewhat normal levels. However, Virgin Money, the...
Collection Of Energy Performance Certificate Ratings
Lloyds Banking group, which is comprised on Lloyds Bank, Halifax, Bank of Scotland, Birmingham Midshires, and Scottish Widows, have revealed their plans moving forward to tackle and reduce carbon emissions through their lending. Both Halifax Bank and buy-to-let lender...
What Is A Santander Accountant’s Certificate?
Getting a mortgage as a self employed person can sometimes be tricky. As specialist self employed mortgage advisors, we know this too well. Whether you have a small freelance business or are the head of a large company, every self employed person has to file their tax...
New Mortgage Rates Below 4% & Other Rate Changes
This week has been another week filled with mortgage rate drops as lenders battle it out to gain new mortgage customers after shooting themselves in the foot with ridiculously high increases at the end of 2022. The most exciting news this week is definitely the...
As A Landlord, Should I Increase Rent?
Historically being a buy-to-let landlord has always been a lucrative game to be in. If you find yourself in the fortunate position to be able to either purchase a property for purely rental purposes, or own a property that you are able to turn into a rental home, then...
What is the Bank of England Base Rate?
Before 'Goblin Mode' was announced as Oxford Dictionary's word of the year, I would have predicted that 'Base Rate' would be a strong contender to take the crown in 2022/23! As a phrase that has dominated the British papers over the last 12 months, it is very...
Can I Get a 5.5 Times Salary Mortgage? Santander News
Whenever the topic of mortgage affordability comes up, most people will tell you that you can borrow around 4.5X your income as a mortgage. That is the general industry standard and has been for a number of years as a means of limiting lender liability and the risk of...
New Competitive Bank Of Ireland Mortgage Rates
When looking to get a mortgage or remortgage quote, chances are that Bank of Ireland mortgage rates are probably not your first thought! Despite being THE Bank of Ireland, most people would think of the likes of Halifax, NatWest, Nationwide, Santander before BOI....
Halifax Mortgage Affordability Changes
In a message to all mortgage brokers, Halifax Bank have announced some exciting new mortgage affordability changes. Halifax have recently, like most other lenders, tightened their purse strings as a result of both the covid-19 pandemic and also the economic crisis. In...
House Prices Were Down In January 2023
As a direct result of the UK's current cost of living crisis and mortgage interest rates increasing at the end of 2022, the interest in purchasing property has undoubtedly dwindled in recent months. People are finding it more difficult to save money for deposits,...
Exclusive Mortgage Deals For An Exclusive Mortgage Network
When we say we have good weight in the market, we mean it. There are thousands of mortgage advisors across the country, all competing for business and claiming that they are the best in the business. So why do we make this claim, and why should you believe us? The...
Rate Watch – Changes From Virgin & HSBC
In this brief mortgage rate watch article, we will be taking a look at some recent updates and communications coming from mortgage lenders this week. The first week and a bit of February 2023 has been an interesting one to watch as a mortgage broker and as potential...
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