Knowledge Bank is to make Proportunity’s shared equity loan products available to the brokers on its criteria search platform.

The agreement will allow Proportunity to open its criteria to a wider market, according to chief executive and co-founder Vadim Toader.

Knowledge Bank’s criteria database is the largest in the UK with over 135,000 individual criteria from over 270 lenders.

Toader comments: “Raising awareness among brokers of the solutions we can offer their customers, and giving them the ability to compare our products, will extend our reach to a far greater customer base.”

Proportunity provides shared-equity loans aimed at people with only a 5% deposit to buy a property.

The loans are available for up to £150,000, or up to 25% of the property’s value. They are designed for first-time buyers as well as homeowners who want to move to a bigger property but have only a small deposit.

The loans allow prospective purchasers to increase the size of their deposit and get a mortgage at a lower rate of interest than if they had taken out a 95% LTV mortgage, according to Proportunity, lowering the overall cost of the purchaser’s mortgage across the two blended rates by up to 40%.

Knowledge Bank founder and chief executive Nicola Firth says: “The addition of Proportunity is the latest benefit for our brokers. We are constantly adding lenders and categories to our platform to ensure we continue as the go-to search platform, and Proportunity offers a great new option for brokers working with first-time buyers.

“As house prices continue to spike, the deposits needed to buy a property are continuing to increase. Proportunity gives first-time buyers another option through its innovative offering and it should help plenty of borrowers onto the housing ladder.”