First-time buyers

Market set for Boxing Day rebound as prices tipped to rise in 2026

House prices ended 2025 lower than a year earlier after an unusually subdued second...

Growth in mortgage lending forecast to continue despite tighter affordability

UK Finance has released its latest Mortgage Market Forecast for 2026 and 2027, projecting...

Stamp duty receipts rise sharply as market shows signs of broad recovery

Stamp duty revenues increased substantially in the past financial year as activity returned to...

Budget uncertainty deepened November slowdown in housing market

The latest RICS UK Residential Market Survey shows that the Autumn Budget did little...

The Cambridge raises stress limits to widen borrowing capacity

The Cambridge Building Society has moved to strengthen support for residential borrowers by increasing...

Zoopla: Rental demand slips as buyers return

Zoopla’s latest Rental Market Report shows the rental sector entering a new phase of...

Precise widens access to high LTV lending with new build focus

Precise has announced a series of changes to its residential range as the specialist...

Gen H reduces high LTV rates to bolster first-time buyer activity

Gen H has introduced a series of rate changes across its mortgage range, with...

Graham McClelland on Britain’s broken mortgage market

When Graham McClelland, the youthful and quietly intense chief executive of Gen H, arrived...

Early winter slowdown as lender criteria changes hit 2025 high

Knowledge Bank’s November data reveals a quieter month for broker searches set against a...

Zoopla forecasts stronger start to 2026 as market steadies after Budget jitters

The UK housing market is set to enter 2026 with renewed momentum after months...

Midlands set to overtake London as house-price cycle shifts

House prices are forecast to record modest growth next year as falling inflation and...

Santander reduces rates ahead of 2026

Santander has made a further round of rate cuts, effective from 9 December, as...

UK house prices hold steady as annual growth slows

UK house prices were flat in November, pausing after a 0.5% rise in October,...

COMMENT

This is a different mortgage market and borrowers are reacting to it

It is important to be clear about what has changed in the mortgage market over the last month or so, because the latest data-specific...

The rise of larger deposits

The first-time buyer profile is changing. Increasingly, buyers are entering the market with larger deposits than at any point in recent years as many...

Is life insurance too confusing to buy?

While there are peaks and troughs depending on where we look, the UK life insurance market is typically quite flat, including mortgage-related protection. Recent data...

Why the government’s housing ambitions won’t fix the affordability crisis

With the bidding open for the government’s £39bn Social and Affordable Homes Programme - the main pillar of its long-term housing strategy - homebuying...

Kevin Tunnicliffe on ending the race to the bottom

This was always going to be a tricky interview. I’ve known Kevin Tunnicliffe, chief executive officer of Sort Group, which includes Sort Refer, for...

Latest news

Richard Goppy to rejoin PMS as director of acquisition and key accounts

PMS Mortgage Club has confirmed the appointment of Richard Goppy as director of acquisition...

Renters’ Rights Act to reshape buy-to-let risk models

The Renters’ Rights Act is set to trigger a fundamental shift in how lenders assess risk...

MAB research shows confidence among buyers is rising, but many still hesitate

More than half of prospective buyers say they are ready to purchase in 2026,...

Market Harborough cuts fixed rates and adds pre-completion switch option

Market Harborough Building Society has cut fixed mortgage rates by up to 36bps and...

PROFILES