Lender focuses on key borrower groups in latest mortgage update
Market Harborough Building Society has reduced its interest stress testing requirements for residential mortgages up to £5m, including expatriate applications, the specialist lender announced.
The changes lower the stress rate applied to many lending scenarios, potentially increasing borrowing capacity for new customers, remortgage applicants, expatriates and high net worth individuals seeking the society’s specialist mortgage products.
Under the revised testing, clients with a £100,000 household income seeking a residential repayment mortgage on a two-year discount rate could now borrow up to £55,000 more than previously possible, based on the society’s tier two residential product up to £3m with a 5.49% rate.
“Easing our residential stress testing is another step in making our mortgage solutions even more accessible,” said Iain Smith (pictured), the society’s head of mortgage distribution. “We’re seeing a welcome market shift in how affordability is assessed, and these changes are designed to support more clients with complex needs on top of what we’re already offering, including multi-generational and JBSP solutions, interest-only deals, and no LTI cap across our products.
The announcement follows the society’s recent decision to raise loan thresholds across standard residential products to £3m, providing brokers additional flexibility for higher-value cases.
Market Harborough’s move joins a wave of recent adjustments by other mortgage lenders. Skipton Building Society, Nationwide, Leeds and Newcastle building societies, as well as major banks including NatWest, HSBC and Lloyds, have loosened affordability criteria and raised loan‑to‑income thresholds in light of the regulator’s guidance. These changes follow broader industry shifts, with institutions lowering stress rates and enabling clients to borrow higher multiples of income – in some cases up to six times household earnings – for eligible borrowers.
Market Harborough offers purchase and remortgage solutions up to £5m for complex scenarios, including non-standard income cases, unusual properties and multiple complications. The specialist lender also provides solutions for larger loans, expatriate borrowers, holiday let and buy-to-let properties, and bridging finance.
The building society manages £863m in assets with over 32,000 savings members and 2,500 mortgage members.
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