Mortgage News, Insights & Advice
All the latest UK mortgage news, insights and advice from the world of mortgage lending and Oportfolio
Can I Get A Mortgage With A Small Deposit?
Learn how low-deposit mortgages work in the UK, whether you can buy with a 5% deposit, and what lenders look for when assessing mortgage affordability.
UK Mortgage Market Update – 1st June 2026
Mortgage rates remain volatile as lenders cut selected products and UK house prices fall for the first time in 2026. Read the latest UK mortgage market update from Oportfolio Mortgages.
How to Get a Mortgage in the UK – Your Questions Answered
If you're wondering how to get a mortgage in the UK, you're not alone. Whether you're a first-time buyer or moving home, understanding the mortgage process can feel overwhelming. From deposits and affordability to lender criteria and approvals, there are many moving...
How much does it cost to live NEAR London?
The office on national statistics (ONS) have recently released a report that claims that a town’s proximity to London is one of the top 3 factors that affect a property’s value. The data presented by the ONS and recorded in 2019 found that towns within 200km of London...
Natwest Announce a 40 Year Mortgage Term
Fantastic news coming out of NatWest Intermediary Solutions as they announce a significant improvement to their mortgage lending criteria – an increase to both the maximum term allowed and age allowed. What's new? Effective immediately, mortgages submitted via an...
Shared ownership mortgages are back with The West Brom
Who are The West Brom? West Midlands based building society The West Brom has announced that they are vetoing their ban on shared ownership mortgages. The 173 year old building society, which was once known as a good new build shared ownership specialist, dropped out...
Self-employed income requirements change for Santander
Mortgage lending juggernaut Santander have today announced that from the 11th of April they will be introducing new self-employed mortgage income requirements. We all know that when it comes to self-employed income, it is never a straightforward affair. Salaries,...
Loan to income caps are increasing for big lenders
Both Halifax and Scottish Widows have announced today that there will be a dramatic shake up with their loan to income rules from Wednesday the 6th of April. Both lenders will be increasing their loan to income affordability from 4.49X to 4.75X income meaning that...
Santander increases rates across its products
Over the last couple of days Santander has announced that it has increased its rates on most residential and buy to let products meaning that repayments will go up for thousands of people. Some of the rate changes are as follows…
Client takes on an ambitious 2nd property purchase plan
Our client found his dream property after an extensive search. He already owned a residential property and wanted to keep this as a 2nd home however this was unaffordable to do due to the expense of having two properties.
Landlord is shocked when credit checks decline
A regular client of Oportfolio and experienced landlord came back to us to look at remortgaging some of her rental properties to avoid going on to the standard variable rate and also to release some needed equity. We carried out a decision in principle which should have passed no problem however this unexpectedly declined. We then approached another lender but this decision in principle also declined unexpectedly.
Cancer & Life Insurance Case Study
Our client’s mother had breast cancer in the past and she wanted to make sure that she was covered in case she too developed cancer. A straight forward life insurance application turned out to be quite difficult as the majority of insurance companies excluded cancer meaning that they would not cover a potential future cancer diagnosis for the clients.
Decline in Help To Buy applications evident
Since 2013 the government in conjunction with house builders has offered the Help to Buy scheme which was developed with the intention of helping struggling prospective home buyers to fund the purchase of a new build property. Initially the scheme was set to run until 2020 but was slightly restructured and extended until 2023. The scheme was an instant hit and people flocked in their thousands to make the most of a really incredible helping hand.
Interest in shared ownership rising
For many years, shared ownership was a rather specialist and quite uncommon means of purchase as most people understandably want to purchase an entire property rather than part of a property! However, as house prices have increased by 4.3% on average every year since 2011, it is becoming more and more difficult for people to both save enough deposit to buy a property and earn enough money to meet the mortgage lending required to purchase a whole property.
Deposit unlock scheme gives new hope for home buyers
Over the last few years there has been a lot of talk around deposits or, more specifically, the struggles that new buyers go through to save a deposit. With banks and building societies restricting lending and becoming seemingly more demanding when it comes to customer cash contributions, new buyers have become disillusioned with the whole idea and feel penalised by banks, building societies and home sellers in favour of older, more experienced purchasers.
We're Here to Help
If you have any questions about UK mortgage news or anything you’ve read then please get in touch. We’d love to hear from you.