What is a residential mortgage?

Whether you’re a first-time buyer or looking to move house, a residential mortgage is the type of mortgage you will need to take out. A residential mortgage is a mortgage for a house that will be used as your primary residence. It is a long term loan that helps to fund the purchase of a property. The mortgage is to be paid back to the lender over approximately 25 years or more, either on a repayment or interest-only basis.

Residential mortgages typically require a cash deposit of between 5 and 30% of the total property value.

How much can you borrow?

How much you can borrow will depend on how much you can put down as a deposit, how much you earn and how much you can afford to repay each month. Your credit profile also plays a major role - the cleaner it is, the higher your chances of being accepted for a mortgage. So because all lenders have different lending policies, it’s important to be able to match borrowers with the right lender and the right mortgage.

How about a Loan-to-Value?

With the assistance of Government schemes such as Help to Buy, it is currently possible to borrow up to 95% of the value of a property. Unassisted, most lenders will go up to 90% LTV. Of course, the bigger your deposit, the better the rate you can expect to receive, so it’s often worth putting down a bigger deposit.