Lloyds international mortgages

Death knell to sound for Lloyds International mortgages? – Updated 2026

Lloyds Banking Group appears to have permanently withdrawn from mainstream UK expat international mortgage lending activities, whilst Nat Wet International are now insisting expat buy to let clients go via the more complex UK fully advised mortgage broker route, even though expat buy to let mortgages are classed as unregulated by the UK Financial Conduct Authority. Fully advised mortgage sales require clients to complete a detailed assessment of affordability, with the client usually being in the UK at the time the advice is given. The process, aimed primarily at domestic UK main home buyers, was designed after the 2009 financial crisis to prevent poor quality lending to families buying main homes and so help to lessen repossession risk.

In the UK, Lloyds Bank International mortgages stopped accepting applications some years ago, whilst the change in policy at Nat West International is more recent. The Lloyds Banking Group ban on expat mortgages covers subsidiaries including Halifax, Bank of Scotland and BM Solutions, all owned by Lloyds. The Nat West International policy covers both Nat West International and Royal Bank of Scotland

The demise of Lloyds and increased costs and complexity that follow the Nat West International announcement are bitter blows for overseas buyers everywhere, as it risks reducing buyer choice.

Happily, according to online expat brokers Offshoreonline, 2025 saw the entry of several new lenders into the expat market offering highly competitive interest rates, as well as the ability to purchase buy to lets and holiday lets both in Scotland and mainland UK. Expats buying via companies, sometimes called SPVs, are increasingly well catered for too.

Commenting on the changes in the market, Guy Stephenson, a director of international mortgage broking specialists offshoreonline.org commented, “These demands from Nat West International effectively force their clients to be in the UK to receive fully regulated main home advice for something that is not needed under current UK rules. Otherwise, a typical broker’s professional indemnity insurance policy is usually invalid, if advice is given outside the UK. As a result, it make it very difficult for expat brokers to serve this market segment. Whilst we regularly meet clients who are visiting the UK, for many this is not realistic.

However, property bought as an investment or on a buy to let basis, perhaps as part of an international pension plan, is not subject to these rules. Since the November budget, we at Offshoreonline are seeing a stream of good quality UK expat mortgage enquires from UK and other nationalities around the world.”

Although new data remains scare, the last major survey, carried out by lettings and sales agency Benham and Reeves on the most active foreign nations within the UK market (Published 2025) shows  Hong Kongers remain top of the table. In 2024, Hong Kong Nationals held 25,972 homes across the capital, equating to 13.7% of all homes owned by foreign buyers, up from 13.3% in 2023, with the total number of Hong Kong owners  increasing by 5.7% year on year – the third largest year on year increase of all nations in the top 20.

Homeowners from Singapore accounted for the second largest proportion of the market, with 15,635 property titles equating to 8.2% of all homes owned by a foreign national in 2024.

The third most prominent nation was the United States, with 12,405 homes owned across England and Wales in 2024, an increase of 5.5% year on year, accounting for 6.5% of all foreign owners.

The UAE was the fourth most prevalent foreign nation (5.8%), whilst China completes the top five (5.2%), overtaking Malaysia (5.1%).