Nearly half of all gross mortgage advances in the UK during the second quarter of 2026 were made to borrowers at high loan-to-income ratios, according to figures from the FCA and Bank of England. That share rose to 46% from 41.4% a year earlier, a trajectory that Jinesh Vohra, chief executive and co-founder of mortgage overpayment platform Sprive, says signals a structural problem the industry is not adequately addressing.
Vohra made the remarks on the latest episode of Twenty7tec‘s ELEVATE Podcast Series, in conversation with host Ellisha Jade. His central argument is that monthly affordability has become the dominant frame for mortgage decisions, while the lifetime cost of debt receives far less attention from lenders, brokers and borrowers alike.
“I think it’s very important that people understand the cost of debt, because it’s not just about meeting the monthly payments,” Vohra said. “You have to be able to do that over the entire lifetime of the mortgage.”
The structural shift in borrowing behaviour
The affordability squeeze has pushed a growing proportion of first-time buyers toward extended mortgage terms of 30 or 40 years. A longer term reduces the monthly payment and brings more borrowers within a lender’s affordability calculation, but it substantially increases the total interest paid and leaves borrowers carrying material debt later into their working lives and, in some cases, into retirement. Research from Yorkshire Building Society cited in the release found that 56% of prospective first-time buyers still consider mortgage acceptance difficult, which suggests the underlying affordability constraint has not eased despite the structural workarounds now in common use.
Compounding this is the pattern of intermittent customer engagement that characterises much of the adviser market. Twenty7tec’s own August 2026 Mortgage Market Snapshot recorded 616,150 remortgage searches, an increase of 11% year on year. That activity reflects borrowers actively reviewing their arrangements, but Vohra argued that two-to-five-year remortgage cycles are not sufficient to provide the ongoing financial support homeowners need.
“If you are interacting with that customer every two to five years, when they’re effectively looking to refinance, how strong is that relationship?” he said.
Regulatory and market context
The rising share of high loan-to-income lending is not new to regulators. The Bank of England’s Financial Policy Committee has maintained a flow limit on high loan-to-income mortgage lending since 2014, capping at 15% the proportion of new lending at or above 4.5 times income for any given lender. The Q2 2026 data point of 46% refers to the broader high loan-to-income bracket, not solely those at or above 4.5 times, but the directional trend has attracted regulatory attention as affordability pressure intensifies. Any significant deterioration in borrower resilience at extended terms could prompt the FCA or PRA to revisit the adequacy of affordability stress tests.
Sprive’s own position is that technology and data can support more continuous borrower engagement outside of transaction moments. The platform allows homeowners to direct spending rewards toward mortgage overpayments and provides modelling tools on the impact of early repayment. Vohra’s Series A, a $10 million round announced in September 2026 and bringing total funding to more than $15 million, is earmarked for customer acquisition and revenue growth in the UK market. The commercial thesis rests on sustained customer relationships rather than point-in-time origination, which aligns the product with the structural critique Vohra is making of the wider industry.
For mortgage technology providers and lenders, the debate points to a growing commercial opportunity in post-origination engagement tools, an area where the industry’s existing technology stack, built largely around sourcing and application processing, remains relatively thin.
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