Mortgage News, Insights & Advice
All the latest UK mortgage news, insights and advice from the world of mortgage lending and Oportfolio
£200k Salary Mortgage UK: How Much Can You Borrow?
£200k Salary Mortgage UK: How Much Mortgage Can You Afford? If you’re earning £200,000 a year, one of the most common questions is: “How much mortgage can I afford with a £200k salary?” The answer depends on several factors, including your income structure, deposit,...
HNW Mortgages: A Complete Guide for High Earners
High Earner Mortgages UK: What Are Your Options? If you’re a high earner, you may assume getting a mortgage is straightforward, but that isn’t always the case. Even for high-income applicants, lenders don’t always assess income in a way that reflects true...
How Is Mortgage Affordability Calculated?
Mortgage affordability checks are assessments used by lenders to decide how much you can borrow and whether you can afford the monthly repayments.
Is a 2 Year or 5 Year Fixed Mortgage Better?
Historically, choosing a 5 year or 2 year fixed mortgage was quite a straightforward decision to make for mortgage borrowers. Essentially, do you want to keep the mortgage with a competitive rate for a couple of years and then potentially move on to something...
New TSB Five Year Fixed Rate Mortgage at 3.89%
This morning TSB have announced a slew of changes to the products they offer to borrowers, including a new five year fixed rate mortgage at below 4%! Something that most lenders haven't offered since before the announcement of the disastrous mini-budget in September...
How To Avoid Defaulting On Mortgages
2023 has turned out to be very tough year for the average UK resident. With spiralling interest rates and the general cost of living going to unprecedented levels, people are struggling to keep up with their bills and many are defaulting on mortgages, credit cards,...
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...
How To Avoid Early Repayment Charges On Mortgages
What Is An Early Repayment Charge? Most people reading this blog will have heard of an early repayment charge or an ERC. Chances are that you have been confronted with the prospect of having to pay an ERC or have seen it written in the small print on your mortgage...
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...
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