Market Harborough relaxes residential stress testing

Market Harborough Building Society has relaxed its interest stress testing for residential cases up to £5m, including for expats.

This means that the stress rate is now lower for many scenarios, giving even more borrowers access to the Society’s specialist lending solutions due to a boost in affordability. The new rules mean that many clients will see an increase in their maximum borrowing potential, including new borrowers, those looking to remortgage, expats and high net worth individuals. 

For example, clients with a household income of £100,000 looking for a residential repayment mortgage on a two-year discount rate could now borrow up to £55,000 more under the Society’s new stress testing.

This follows news that the specialist lender recently raised the loan threshold across its standard residential products to £3m, giving brokers more flexibility to place higher-value cases. 

Market Harborough offers purchase and remortgage solutions up to £5m for more complex scenarios, including non-standard income, quirky properties and multiple complexities. Its range of mortgages are tiered based on complexity, with its lowest residential tier for cases up to £3m including lending into retirement, joint borrower sole proprietor, second homes and simple annexe applications as standard. The specialist lender also offers solutions for larger loans, expats, holiday let and buy-to-let, and bridging finance.

Market Harborough’s head of mortgage distribution, Iain Smith, said: “Easing our residential stress testing is another step in making our mortgage solutions even more accessible. 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. 

"It’s all part of our commitment to evolving with the market and listening to our brokers to provide flexible solutions that meet real-world client needs.”