Mortgage Porting to a New Home: How to Move Without Losing the Terms of Your Existing Mortgage

Mortgage porting means the bank releases the lien on the home you are selling and transfers your existing mortgage, with the same balance, tracks, interest rate, and amortization schedule, onto the new property you are buying. Instead of repaying the loan at the sale and taking a new mortgage at today's market terms, you keep the existing loan running while only the collateral changes, which matters most when your current mortgage carries better terms than banks offer now. In this guide: when porting beats a new mortgage, the bank process step by step, porting to a deposit, bridging price gaps, what the bank re-checks, and when porting is not worth it.

What Mortgage Porting Is and How It Works

Your mortgage is not attached to you, it is attached to the property. The bank holds a lien on your home as collateral, and when you sell, that lien must be removed so the buyer receives a clean title. The familiar route is to repay the balance from the sale proceeds and take a new loan on the next home. Porting is different: the bank lifts the lien from the old property and places it on the new one, while the loan keeps running exactly as it is. One caveat: porting is not an automatic right, and the bank may refuse or attach conditions.

Porting or a New Mortgage: How to Decide

A mortgage's terms reflect the moment it was signed. If you took the loan when rates were lower than what banks currently quote on similar tracks, your existing mortgage is an asset in its own right, and repaying it at the sale erases that asset. Also, full early repayment can trigger an early repayment fee, mainly on fixed-rate tracks, while porting is not a repayment, so the ported portion avoids that fee, as explained in our guide to the early repayment fee. If your existing terms are weak, though, the move is a natural opportunity to rebuild the mix and negotiate between banks, much like mortgage refinancing.

Criterion	Mortgage porting	New mortgage
Loan terms	Preserved as they are	Set anew at market conditions
Early repayment fee	Not charged on the ported portion	May apply to the full repayment
Loan structure	Unchanged	Can be rebuilt from scratch
Negotiating between banks	Limited, you stay with your bank	Full, every bank is open
Best when	Existing terms beat today's offers	Existing terms are weak or unsuitable

The decision requires a numeric comparison of both scenarios, including side costs. That is exactly the analysis done in professional mortgage consulting before anything is signed.

The Bank Process, Step by Step

The process runs through the bank that holds your mortgage, and it should start early, ideally before you sign the sale contract:

1. Early approach to the bank: request preliminary approval before signing any sale or purchase.
2. Presenting the purchase: the new property's details, contract or draft, and title documents.
3. Appraisal: the bank's appraiser values the new collateral.
4. Updated underwriting: income, obligations, conduct, and the financing limits on the new property.
5. Approval and signing: porting documents, amended mortgage deeds, registration undertakings.
6. Coordinating with the sale: a letter of intent to your buyer, and lien removal in sync with the payments.
7. Registering the lien on the new property: at the land registry or relevant authority.
8. Updating insurance: structure insurance moves to the new property; life insurance continues as usual.

This is a process measured in weeks, so the deadlines in both contracts must be built around it.

Porting to a Deposit: When You Sell Before You Buy

You have sold your current home but have not yet closed on the next one. The lien must be removed at the sale, yet there is no new property to pledge. The solution: sale proceeds, at the amount the bank requires, are placed in a deposit pledged to the bank as temporary collateral, and the loan keeps running on the same terms. When you buy the new home, a second port moves the lien onto it and the deposit is released toward the purchase. Three caveats: the bank sets the deposit amount, usually derived from the loan balance; the deposit period is limited, and missing it can mean forced repayment; and the pledged money is locked, so it cannot serve as equity elsewhere.

Price Gaps Between the Properties

When the new home costs more

The ported mortgage covers only the existing balance. The difference is bridged by equity from the sale and a new complementary loan at current market terms, creating a hybrid mortgage: a veteran portion on the old terms and a new portion at today's. Together the loans must fit the loan-to-value limits on the new property. For illustration only: selling for 2,000,000 shekels with an 800,000 balance and buying for 2,800,000 means porting 800,000, putting down 1,200,000 in equity, and topping up 800,000 with a new loan. Test the effect on your payment with our mortgage calculator.

When the new home costs less

If the ported balance is too high relative to the new property's value, the bank will require a partial repayment so the loan fits the financing limits. That repayment may trigger an early repayment fee on the repaid portion only, so calculate in advance how much to repay and from which tracks.

In both scenarios the property itself can make or break the port. A home with registration problems or a low appraisal can stall the whole move, which is why an early review as part of pre-purchase consulting saves surprises when there is no way back.

What the Bank Re-Checks Before Approving

After 19 years inside the banking system, I can say this: to the client a port looks like a technical procedure, but the bank treats it as nearly full re-underwriting. Under review are the new property (appraisal, registration status, collateral policy fit), the loan-to-value ratio, your current income and payment-to-income ratio, your account conduct and credit since the original loan, and the deal's classification as a sole, replacement, or additional home. Even years of on-time payments do not exempt you.

Common Pitfalls, and When Porting Is Not Worth It

• Signing the sale contract before bank approval: a refusal leaves you committed to sell with no financing solution.
• Unsynchronized contract timelines: dates that ignore the bank's pace create pressure and costs.
• Assuming the deposit can wait indefinitely: the deposit period is limited.
• Ignoring the deal's classification: holding two homes in parallel changes the financing limits and tax picture, as our guide to a second home mortgage explains.
• Forgetting the insurance: structure insurance must move to the new property on time.

And the rule for skipping the port: you port when there is something worth preserving. If your existing terms are weaker than today's offers, the remaining balance is small, or the bank attaches conditions that erode the advantage, repaying and rebuilding may often be the better path. We work with clients from Ness Ziona, Rehovot, Rishon LeZion, and central Israel, and remotely across the country, and this comparison is always the first step in guiding a home move.

Questions and Answers

Is the bank obligated to approve a mortgage port?

No. Porting requires the bank's consent, and it reviews the request almost like a new deal: the new property, loan-to-value, repayment capacity, and your conduct. When the property is sound and the numbers are stable, banks tend to approve, but get written preliminary approval before signing any sale or purchase contract.

What is porting a mortgage to a deposit?

It is a bridge solution for those who sell before buying. Sale proceeds, at an amount the bank sets, go into a pledged deposit that replaces the home as collateral, and the mortgage keeps running on the same terms. When a new property is purchased, the lien moves onto it and the deposit is released. The period is limited by bank policy.

Can I port my mortgage to a different bank?

No. Porting happens only within the bank that holds the mortgage, because it is a continuation of the same loan with replaced collateral. Moving to another bank means repaying the existing loan and taking a new one, in other words refinancing, with new terms and sometimes an early repayment fee on the old loan.

Does porting a mortgage trigger an early repayment fee?

No fee is charged on the ported portion itself, because the loan is not repaid, it continues on the same terms. A fee may apply only if the move also includes a partial repayment, for example when the new home is cheaper. The port does carry certain operational costs, such as appraisal and registration, worth clarifying with the bank in advance.

Before You Sign: Check the Numbers in One Call

Porting can preserve terms that are hard to obtain today, but it does not fit every situation, and its timing against both contracts is critical. Compare the two scenarios on your real numbers before you sign anything. The first diagnosis call with us is free and carries no obligation. Read more about our mortgage consulting service, or book a diagnosis call today.