High-Value Mortgages

General underwriting requirements tend to cap the amount you can borrow at 5 x annual earnings, however, for individuals classified as High Net Worth which is generally defined as having personal income in excess of £300k per annum, or liquid assets above £3.0m lenders often take a more flexible view, and will factor in bonus income, investment income, vesting position on stock options and the general value of all investments to enable them to lend far more than what’s available on standard multipliers.

• For employees all salary, bonuses, commissions and allowances can be used to support the mortgage.
• For the self-employed it’s either profits for a sole trader, share of partnership profits for members of LLP’s and for Company Directors the most favourable calculation is often share of net profit before tax plus Directors salary as this permits enhanced loans when compared to the usual dividend plus Directors salary calculation.
• Other sources of income that can be used to support a high value mortgage include; profits from land and property, income from general investment accounts, ISA’s and pension portfolios.

High St lenders generally require a minimum deposit of 15% on mortgages up to £2.0m, which increases to 25% for mortgages above £2.0m.

Private Banks routinely offer higher loan to values and may just require a 10% deposit on loans up to £5.0m, and 15% on loans up to £10.0m. In some cases where the borrower has ‘assets under management’ with the same Bank, or they are willing to pledge other property assets as collateral then no deposit is required at all.

If the mortgage required is below £5.0m and the income assessment is standard you should qualify for a High St interest rate < 1.50%

Where the income assessment is non-standard a Private Bank is more likely to be the best option available. If you have ‘assets under management’ with the same Bank they may charge a small premium to High St lenders with rates typically < 2%, but where there is no ‘assets under management’ they may load this rate to around 2.75% – 3.25% depending on the amount borrowed and the loan to valuation.

Interest only borrowing is available on high value mortgages, though mainstream lenders will often limit the interest only element of the loan to 50% LTV and insist that any portion of borrowing above this level be on capital repayment.

Our high value team have an excellent network of underwriting contacts across the lending spectrum and are able to negotiate bespoke interest only mortgages up to 75% with some mainstream lenders, and even up to 90% LTV with some Private Banks.