Mortgage News, Insights & Advice
All the latest UK mortgage news, insights and advice from the world of mortgage lending and Oportfolio
Helping Hand Mortgage: Nationwide Lowers Minimum Income for First-Time Buyers
Nationwide Building Society has announced a positive change to its popular Helping Hand mortgage product, making it more accessible to first-time buyers across the UK. As of Tuesday the 8th of April 2025, the minimum income requirement for sole applicants has been...
Barclays Unveils Zero Deposit Mortgages for Right to Buy Buyers
In a major boost for first-time buyers, Barclays has announced it will now offer zero deposit mortgages for individuals purchasing a home through the Right to Buy (RTB) scheme in England. The move eliminates the need for buyers to save for a traditional deposit,...
Are House Prices Going Down?
Are house prices going down in the UK? Well, according to the lates Halifax property price index, UK house prices fell by 0.5% in March 2025, with average property prices now £296,699! In this article, I will go through the new data released by Halifax and offer a...
HSBC Increases 53 Mortgage Product Rates Amid Economic Uncertainty
It has been announced today that HSBC has increased mortgage product rates on 53 of its mortgage products, impacting many different areas of residential mortgage borrowing. Some of the customers expected to be impacted by the rate increases are existing customers...
Santander Mortgage Rates Slashed While Virgin Increases Fixed Deals
Amid recent economic policy shifts, Santander and Virgin Money have made notable changes to their mortgage rates, offering contrasting options for UK homebuyers and investors. Santander is reducing rates across its fixed-rate residential and buy-to-let mortgages, with...
Metro Reduces UK Buy-To-Let Mortgage Rates As TSB Hikes Them
October has truly been the month for rate instability in my opinion. None of us wanted rates to fluctuate as much as they have over the last month or so, and I don’t think that I was the only one who thought that we might at least enjoy some stability until the end of...
Barclays Introduces New Maximum Age For Mortgage Applicants
This morning, Barclays Mortgages has announced a new set of age-related criteria for its residential mortgage offerings, hoping to simplifying the mortgage application process for older borrowers. The changes, establish new guidelines for maximum age limits,...
Energy Efficiency Report Shows Opportunities and Challenges for Buy-to-Let Investors
Today, The Mortgage Works (TMW) Nationwide Building Society’s buy-to-let lending only arm released their energy efficiency report for the private buy-to-let rental sector. The latest report from The Mortgage Works explores the energy efficiency of the UK's private...
Abi Muazu From Barclays Mortgages Shares Her Thoughts
A couple of weeks ago, our team at Oportfolio Mortgages had the pleasure of welcoming Abi Muazu, business development manager for Barclays mortgages into our Putney mortgage brokerage. As part of our ongoing commitment to building close relationships with mortgage...
Halifax Increases 2-Year and 5-Year Fixed Mortgage Rates
Halifax announced yesterday an increase in interest rates across its 2-year and 5-year fixed mortgage products. Borrowers will see rate hikes ranging between 0.11% and 0.24%, effective immediately. The changes come as part of a broader shift in mortgage pricing, with...
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...
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