Mortgage News, Insights & Advice
All the latest UK mortgage news, insights and advice from the world of mortgage lending and Oportfolio
How to Choose a Mortgage Broker in the UK
Why Choosing the Right Mortgage Broker in the UK Matters Finding the right mortgage deal for you will cost you thousands of pounds throughout your term. And yet, among them all, it can become staggering. That is where a UK specialist mortgage broker can help. 1. Know...
New Virgin Money Rules for Foreign National Mortgages
Virgin Money has unveiled a major overhaul of its foreign national mortgage lending policy, bringing more flexibility and higher loan-to-value (LTV) ratios to those who are not ILR or settled/pre-settled status holders. The move will help more foreign national clients...
Is It Really a Bad Time to Buy a Home? Here’s the Real Picture.
Should You Wait to Buy a Home in 2025? Let's Break It Down. We get it. Between headlines about rising interest rates, inflation, and housing market uncertainty, it’s easy to feel like buying a home right now might be a mistake. But is it really a bad time to buy? At...
Is It Possible For A Single Person To Buy Anymore?
New data released by mortgage lender Halifax claims to show that a massive 63% of first time buyer mortgages taken out in 2022/23 are in joint names rather than a sole purchase. That means that just 37% of first time buyers are taken out by a single person on their...
Oportfolio’s Top Mortgage Tips. Forget Martin Lewis.
This blog comes from Oportfolio Mortgage's Senior Mortgage and Protection Advisor Jade Pinkerton. I had an appointment yesterday with some clients and it was an interesting conversation to say the least. We discussed many things, but one thing in particular was quite...
5 Million UK Adults Can’t Afford Bills
In an email sent out to brokers this morning, insurance advisor LV= have announced that their research has revealed that 5 million UK adults can't afford bills and other day-to-day expenses. In LV='s newly released report, they revealed several statistics that really...
Could Mortgage Rates Fall Substantially In 2023?
2023 is already shaping up to be a very interesting, and hopefully positive year for mortgages and the property market. Well, let's face it, anything is better than the disaster of the end of 2022. We all know that mortgage rates increased significantly in September...
Meet James Brook From Novello Chartered Surveyors
In part two of our 'Meet the property professional' series, Oportfolio Mortgages spoke to chartered surveyor James Brook FRICS, co-founder of Novello Surveyors. Novello is a RICS chartered surveying firm covering locations across London, the home counties, and...
Santander Credit Card Mortgage Criteria
Although a generally generous mortgage lender and a big name player in the UK mortgage market, Santander has come under criticism in the past for their attitude towards credit commitments when assessing mortgage affordability. However, Santander have recently...
Should I Have A Tax Return?
When looking at getting a mortgage as a self-employed person, it can be difficult to get your head round exactly what you need to provide and what the mortgage lenders will need to see. For things like product transfers, chances are that the lender is unlikely to ask...
Mortgage Lenders Are Hungry For Business
Official figures released by the Bank of England this month shows that UK inflation has dropped for the second month in a row in December 2022. Figures show that inflation was at 10.7% in November and had dropped to 10.5% in December. Not a huge drop but much better...
What Is a Property Surveyor & What Do They Do?
One of the most important elements of the property purchase or property finance journey, but perhaps the most overlooked. Property surveying is an essential part of the home finance narrative arch, but unfortunately a lot of people are completely in the dark about...
Average UK House Price Increased In January 2023
The entire property news industry and admittedly ourselves too, reported at the end of 2022 that the average UK house price would more than likely tank in 2023 as an increased cost of living and a subsequent reduction in the amount of people interested in purchasing...
“Inflation Will Come Down Sharply” – Chief Economist
In a promotional video released today by multi-national wealth management group Investec, Chief economist Philip Shaw has claimed that he predicts that inflation in the UK will likely come down very sharply as the overall outlook of the developed world economy starts...
Is Your Area A Mortgage Payment Hike Hotspot?
At the end of 2022 mortgage rates in the UK increased to levels that I think we can fairly say that no one expected. This was mainly due to a mismanagement of taxes and budget by the government at the time. Products offered by lenders originally at sub 2% were coming...
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