LSL mortgage revenue rises 8% as remortgage demand grows

LSL Property Services has reported an 8% increase in mortgage revenue during the first half of 2026 as the wave of borrowers reaching the end of fixed-rate deals continued to drive remortgage activity. The group maintained an 8.9% share...

Latest news

Virgin Money raises selected mortgage rates and launches new 60% LTV deals

Virgin Money is increasing selected residential and buy-to-let rates from 16 September while withdrawing a range of 65% LTV products and introducing new 60%...

FCA bans former law firm manager over £28m client money case

The FCA has banned a former law firm manager from working in financial services after he was found to have dishonestly caused or allowed...

National Friendly expands adviser proposition with term assurance launch

National Friendly has moved further into the protection market with the launch of Friendly Life Cover, a term assurance product available to advisers directly...

Nationwide names Richard Walker to lead intermediary sales and new-build business

Nationwide has appointed Richard Walker as head of intermediary sales and new build, bringing in the former Virgin Money executive to lead its broker-facing...

Saffron says brokers should look beyond labels on complex mortgage cases

Borrowers with non-standard incomes, unusual properties or international circumstances should not automatically be treated as difficult to place, according to Saffron for Intermediaries. The lender said changes in the way people work, invest and structure their finances mean mortgage...

Walsham Brothers expands adviser reach with Paradigm Protect panel deal

Walsham Brothers has added Paradigm Protect to its growing list of distribution partners as it seeks to widen adviser access to its mortgage payment protection insurance range. Adviser members of Paradigm Protect will now be able to access Walsham...

OakNorth joins financing for BetterHome acquisition of Stonebridge parent

OakNorth has joined HSBC and Investec in a senior lending club backing BetterHome Group’s acquisition of Mortgage Support Services Ltd, the parent company of Stonebridge. The transaction will support BetterHome Group’s further expansion in the UK mortgage market and...

Gen H appoints Laz Doel to new key account role

Gen H has appointed Laz Doel as key account manager in a newly created position aimed at developing the lender's relationships with key broker firms. Doel (pictured) will report to Paddy Doyle, corporate account lead at Gen H, as...

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

Landlords increasingly favour local markets for property investment

Professional landlords are increasingly concentrating investment in their home regions as local market knowledge...

Rents set to rise by up to 5% as supply falls

UK rental growth is accelerating again as higher mortgage rates keep would-be first-time buyers...

Buy-to-let company formations fall as landlord incorporation boom slows

The number of new buy-to-let companies being established has fallen this year as the...

Cyber attacks on property businesses rise 17% as hackers target client data

Cyber attacks against UK property services businesses increased by 17% last year as agents...

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...

FIRST-TIME BUYERS

Berkeley calls for stamp duty overhaul to kick-start housing market

Berkeley Group has called on the Government to slash stamp duty for first-time buyers and downsizers and scrap the 5% surcharge on property investors in an attempt to boost housing transactions and new development. The housebuilder wants stamp duty capped at 1% for first-time buyers...

Property industry moves to speed up mortgage transactions

Lenders, conveyancers and estate agents are testing new ways of sharing property information earlier...

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...

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...

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

Mortgage’s Got Talent launches for 2026

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

Scottish BS takes specialist mortgage range nationwide

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

Shepherds Friendly joins The Right DA Club protection panel

The Right DA Club has added Shepherds Friendly to its protection panel, giving member...

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 recovery in the housing market failed to materialise and delays to new lead flows hit its Fluent business. In a trading update to the City this morning the Group said it...