Unmortgageable. Says who?

Across the UK, the number of properties classified as "unmortgageable" is surging, with over 1.5 million residential properties in Britain now falling into this category, according to Together.

Such properties are worth between £261-303bn, the firm says. In Scotland, non-standard construction accounts for almost 15% of all homes.

However, the issue goes beyond this—these days, many would-be borrowers are also failing to meet mainstream criteria.

“The term unmortgageable no longer applies purely to unusual properties, which is what it used to be known for,” says Maeve Ward, head of intermediary sales for personal finance at Together. “Now what we're seeing at Together and more widely across other specialist lenders is that circumstances that fall outside the high street and do not fit their traditional lending model are being referred to as either unmortgageable securities or unmortgageable individuals.”

Once reserved for unconventional builds, the term unmortgageable is quietly spreading across the UK housing market, extending to everyday buyers and homes that no longer fit rigid high-street lending criteria. With this growing slice of the market shut out of mainstream banks, buyers and brokers alike are having to be more flexible as they turn to specialist finance to get deals done.

Key drivers of the trend on the property side include energy performance certificate (EPC) compliance, complex tenure or property portfolios, flooding risks and planning restrictions, Maeve says. People who may be considered unmortgageable range from individuals with complex income sources such as property portfolios, to older borrowers or those who cannot afford a standard mortgage.

Read the full story on B&C, here.