Mortgages/Home Movers

Moving up, down or sideways

You can often take your existing mortgage with you. Whether you should is a different question, and it's worth asking before you commit.

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Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage.

Moving home means running a sale and a purchase at once, usually with a mortgage decision sitting between them. Porting your existing deal avoids an early repayment charge, but ports are re-underwritten and the extra borrowing is priced separately. An adviser compares porting against a clean start and gives you the number that matters — total cost, not headline rate.

Porting versus starting again

Porting carries your existing rate to the new property, which protects you from an early repayment charge and can be valuable if your current rate is below the market. But you must requalify, and any additional borrowing sits on a separate product at current rates. Sometimes paying the ERC and taking one clean new mortgage is cheaper overall.

What to sort before you offer

An up-to-date view of what you can borrow now
Your current deal's early repayment charge and end date
Whether your lender allows porting, and on what terms
Realistic moving costs: stamp duty, legals, survey, removals

Frequently asked questions

Can I port my mortgage to any property?

Not always. Lenders reassess both you and the property, so an unusual construction type, a flat above commercial premises or a change in your income can all block a port that looked routine.

What if I'm buying before I sell?

That usually means bridging or a let-to-buy arrangement, both of which are specialist and carry real cost. Get advice early rather than once you're committed to a purchase.

Related cover

Worked example

Porting versus starting again, at Stockport prices

A mover with a £180,000 balance on a rate below the current market, buying a £400,000 home in Cheadle and needing to borrow another £120,000.

Existing balance, ported at the old rate: £180,000
Additional borrowing, priced today: £120,000
Result: two sub-accounts, two rates, two end dates
Alternative: one new £300,000 mortgage, paying any early repayment charge

Porting protects a good rate on the larger portion, but leaves you with a split mortgage whose parts end at different times. That misalignment is what catches people out at the next remortgage.

Illustrative, using researched local price data. Not a quotation, an offer, or a statement of what any lender would agree — your own figures decide that.

What property actually costs in Stockport

The figures below decide the two things that matter most to a mortgage: the deposit you need to reach each loan-to-value band, and therefore the rate you are offered.

Average price

£314,000

▲ 3.5% year on year

vs North West (£220,000): +43%
vs UK (£272,000): +15%

By property type

Published at borough level only, so no type breakdown is available.

Deposit needed on an average Stockport property

Lenders price in bands rather than on a sliding scale, so crossing one of these is usually worth more than the extra deposit costs you.

95% LTV

£15,700

5% deposit

90% LTV

£31,400

10% deposit

85% LTV

£47,100

15% deposit

80% LTV

£62,800

20% deposit

75% LTV

£78,500

25% deposit

60% LTV

£125,600

40% deposit

Source: ONS, June 2026 (provisional). Benchmarks: ONS, June 2026. Averages describe every sale in an area and will not match any individual property — a valuation is what a lender actually lends against.

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