Four-month fall in sales agreed signals weaker mortgage market

Mortgage lenders face a potentially weaker final quarter after property sales agreed fell by more than 5% year-on-year for four consecutive months, according to TwentyCi. Its latest Market Update showed sales agreed volumes were around 8% lower year-on-year in...

Latest news

Target Group posts record client satisfaction score

Target Group has reported its highest client satisfaction score to date, six months after setting its previous record. The outsourcing and software provider recorded an...

HSBC to raise residential and buy-to-let mortgage rates

HSBC UK is increasing mortgage rates across much of its residential and buy-to-let range from 15 September, with fixed and tracker products affected at...

Cumberland expands school money workshops into second year

The Cumberland Building Society is extending its financial education programme for primary school children after reaching more than 1,000 pupils during its first term. The...

Prime London price falls could narrow the gap for aspiring home movers

Falling values at the top of the housing market could give some established homeowners a better opportunity to move up the property ladder, according...

Quarter of homebuyers conceal spending as mortgage pressures mount

More than a quarter of prospective and recent homebuyers have hidden or played down their spending habits, while one in four keep savings accounts secret from partners or family, research from Mojo Mortgages suggests. The online mortgage broker's study...

What commonhold will mean for mortgage lenders and brokers

Commonhold is often presented as the straightforward alternative to leasehold. It removes the freeholder, gives flat owners greater control and avoids some familiar problems such as diminishing lease lengths and ground rents. For mortgage lenders and brokers, however, the...

NatWest opens specialist new-build support line for brokers

NatWest has introduced a dedicated telephone service for mortgage brokers handling new-build cases, providing direct access to business development managers trained in the sector. The lender said the service is intended to give intermediaries specialist support at different stages...

High-income-multiple lending to first-time buyers jumps 66%

The number of first-time buyer mortgages advanced at 4.5 times income or more rose by two thirds in 2025, with particularly sharp growth in lending above 5.5 times income, FCA figures show. Data obtained from the Financial Conduct Authority...

PROFILE

Darrell Walker on LendInvest’s next chapter

After 35 years in banking and mortgages, the former football hopeful thought he might have found the company where he would see out his...

INDUSTRY COMMENT

All eyes on Thursday’s rate decision

We've seen a number of lenders increase their rates over the past week, and with the Bank of England's next decision landing on 17...

Why you need to know what sits behind the average review score

There’s a funny thing about review scores. The better they are, the less likely we are to question them. If a company is sitting at...

The new Chancellor wants to remove barriers to growth; he should start with housing

There was probably a degree of unintended irony in the Treasury choosing to call the Chancellor, John Healey’s, first major market ‘intervention’ his ‘Growth...

Q&As

BUY-TO-LET

Remortgage searches rise 11% year on year as August activity slows

Remortgage searches continued to support mortgage market activity in August, with Twenty7tec recording an...

The Darlington reduces mortgage rates by up to 40bps

Darlington Building Society has cut rates across its residential and specialist mortgage ranges by...

Landbay cuts Core buy-to-let rates by up to 0.20%

Landbay has cut rates across 19 products in its Core buy-to-let range, with reductions...

Melton CEO Simon Taylor awarded Honorary Fellowship

Melton Building Society chief executive Simon Taylor has been awarded an Honorary Fellowship of...

Mortgage’s Got Talent launches for 2026

Mortgageforce is bringing the mortgage industry together this November for Mortgage's Got Talent –...

Castle Trust Bank adds medium HMO pricing to TermTen range

Castle Trust Bank has expanded its TermTen buy-to-let range with a new pricing category...

The Marsden eases expat criteria and cuts documentation requirements

Marsden Building Society has revised its expat mortgage criteria, removing its minimum income requirement...

FIRST-TIME BUYERS

House price fall fails to solve first-time buyer deposit barrier

Millions of working renters remain unable to buy their first home despite UK house prices recording their first annual fall in nearly three years, according to rent-to-own provider Own Homes. The latest Lloyds House Price Index showed house prices fell by 0.4% year-on-year in August,...

Knowledge Bank records 6,800 lender criteria changes in August

Knowledge Bank recorded more than 6,800 changes to lender criteria during August, the highest...

Market recovery remains fragile as buyer demand improves

Buyer demand and agreed sales improved again in August but uncertainty over mortgage rates...

Cambridge BS family moves into Rent to Home property

A family of four has moved into a Cambridge Building Society rental property in...

Semi-detached homes lead house price growth

Semi-detached and terraced homes are outperforming the rest of the housing market as buyers...

OPINION

Brokers are losing the attention battle 1,000 to 3

Take a client you placed on a 5-year fix last year. Over the life of that deal, their bank is now planning to contact...

Triple lock or no triple lock? That is not the question

The debate over the State Pension triple lock has returned. But perhaps the more...

Your clients have already asked AI

The FCA published research on 27 August showing that 56% of 18- to 40-year-olds...

The technology that matters doesn’t make the decision

We have a tendency when talking about mortgage technology to start with what it can automate. How many documents can it process, how quickly can it reach a decision and, increasingly, what can AI do that somebody previously had to do manually? They are perfectly reasonable...

In our industry, competition and collaboration aren’t opposites

If there's one theme running through the market at the moment, it's the power of retention, and just how much can be achieved when...

DISTRIBUTION

Rosemount renews adviser mental health partnership

Rosemount Financial Solutions (IFA) has renewed its partnership with SIX Mental Health Addiction (SIX...

MAB cuts 2026 profit forecast as mortgage market recovery stalls

Mortgage Advice Bureau has cut its full-year profit expectations by £5.4m as the anticipated...

Scottish BS takes specialist mortgage range nationwide

Scottish Building Society has expanded its intermediary mortgage proposition across mainland UK, giving brokers...

Mortgage Intelligence adds the Swansea to lender panel

Mortgage Intelligence has added Swansea Building Society to its lender panel, giving advisers across...

L&G opens Ignite mortgage sourcing platform to all brokers

L&G has extended access to its Ignite mortgage sourcing platform to brokers across the market, regardless of their mortgage club, network, firm or CRM provider. The new direct registration route widens access beyond the platform's existing distribution channels, which were primarily through L&G's Mortgage Club...