Mortgage News, Insights & Advice
All the latest UK mortgage news, insights and advice from the world of mortgage lending and Oportfolio
First-Time Buyer Age in the UK Rises To 33 New Research Reveals
The number of first-time buyers in the UK saw a significant increase in 2024, with 341,068 people stepping onto the property ladder. This marks a 19% rise compared to 2023, according to the latest research from Halifax. First-time buyers made up 54% of all home...
Santander and Barclays Mortgage Rates Drop Below 4%
Well Ladies and Gentlemen…it has finally happened! The UK mortgage market has taken an exciting turn as two major lenders, Santander and Barclays, introduce mortgage products with interest rates below 4%! This is something that we have all been waiting for as rates...
NatWest Mortgages Announce Significant Rate Reductions
NatWest mortgages have this morning unveiled a series of rate reductions across their mortgage product offerings, set to take effect from the 12th of February 2025. The new changes are specifically for new business rates, existing customer deals, and additional...
Capital Gains Tax Changes: What It Means For Landlords And Investors
In recent months, landlords have been anxiously following developments around potential changes to Capital Gains Tax (CGT), fearing further strain on an already challenging buy-to-let market. This apprehension comes at a time when the market is facing serious...
What to Expect From 2025 Mortgage Interest Rates
Recently, Jade Pinkerton, senior mortgage and protection advisor at Oportfolio Mortgages attended the Coutts and Savills Market Update webinar. As expected, interest 2024 and 2025 mortgage interest rates and differing predictions were discussed in great detail....
NatWest Mortgages Increase Rates
NatWest mortgages are set to take a bashing this week as the lender announces that their mortgage product rates are due to increase by as much as 0.30%. This is a sharp jolt to mortgage borrowers and frankly to mortgage intermediaries who have all been rejoicing over...
Halifax To Release Mortgages Without Early Repayment Charges
Halifax bank, one of the UK's biggest and most well known mortgage lenders will be releasing some new mortgage products over the next few days, most significantly perhaps, they will be releasing mortgages without early repayment charges. Not only does this mean that...
Where Is The Best Place To Buy Property?
Last week, senior mortgage and protection advisor at Oportfolio Mortgages, Jade Pinkerton attended the latest Coutts and Savills market update webinar. Many interesting property related discussions were held. Perhaps the most interesting and thought provoking...
Buy-to-Let Investment: Is It Still A Good Idea?
This week, senior mortgage and protection advisor at Oportfolio Mortgages Jade Pinkerton attended the latest Coutts Bank and Savills Market Update webinar. One hot topic of discussion was the UK buy-to-let market, and whether it was still ‘worth it’. In this blog, I...
Is Now a Good Time To Buy Residential Property?
This week, senior mortgage and protection advisor at Oportfolio Mortgages Jade Pinkerton attended the latest Coutts Bank and Savills Market Update webinar. Many topics were discussed, but one of particular interest was the questions “Is now a good time to buy...
New-Build Shared Ownership From Teachers Building Society
A new-build shared ownership property can be a great option to when looking to take the first steps on the home ownership ladder. House prices are going up, and in many cases it can be quite difficult for first time buyers to firstly save enough money for a deposit,...
Christina Smith From TSB Mortgages Shares Her Thoughts
This week, our mortgage advisors at Oportfolio Mortgages had the privilege of welcoming Christina Smith, business development manager for TSB mortgages into our London based mortgage brokerage. As part of our ongoing commitment to building close relationships with...
UK House Prices On Upward Trend
As 2024 starts to draw to a close and we enter the final three months of the year, there has been some promising and positive signs for UK property owners regarding UK house prices. Over the last…well…couple of years, really, UK house prices are increased generally....
Opinion Piece: Martin Lewis Is Wrong About Mortgage Rates
Recently, celebrity finance expert Martin Lewis was plastered all over social media because of some controversial comments he made about mortgage rates. On television and on various media platforms, he said that some people are holding off arranging their mortgage or...
UK Foreign National Mortgage Just Got Easier With Santander
UK foreign national mortgage lending has just gone through a big change, and this change comes at the hands of mortgage lender Santander. Historically being a foreign national and getting a mortgage in the UK has sometimes been a tricky feat due to things like right...
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