Yes, at some lenders, and usually only once the units have vested and been sold. How RSU income is assessed, what evidence it takes, and how the lender you choose can change the borrowing figure on the same pay.
In short
Restricted Stock Units (RSUs) can be used to qualify for a mortgage, but only at some lenders and not at face value. Many lenders on our panel may leave RSUs out of affordability; a small number publish a route (one may count vested RSUs at 50%, another may consider them case by case); private banks may assess the whole award. The lenders that do count RSUs may look for a vesting history of twelve to twenty-four months, units sold with the cash landing in your account, and a listed employer with a published schedule. Unvested units may be excluded, and awards in US dollars (USD) may carry a currency adjustment on top. On the same salary and grant, the borrowing figure can differ by up to £400,000 between lenders in the worked example below.
Who this is for
You are a software engineer, tech lead, product lead or similar at a listed technology company, your pay is a base salary plus RSUs that vest quarterly or annually, some of it possibly in USD, and you want to know whether that equity can increase what you borrow.
Can RSUs be used to qualify for a mortgage?
Yes, at some lenders on our panel, where the units have vested and been sold for cash and the lender's policy allows for them. An RSU is a promise of shares in your employer that converts into shares on a vesting date, subject to continued employment. A lender assessing affordability is looking for income it can rely on, and a vested unit sold for cash is the form of RSU income that may fit that test.
A vested unit still held in a brokerage account is an asset, and an unvested unit is a contingent award; a lender may treat neither as income, though a private bank may still weigh the award in your overall position.
Where the salary alone does not carry the loan, RSU income is the lever. This article is part of our wider guide to mortgages for tech and product leaders.
Mortgage & Protection Adviser
Specialist mortgage broker for City professionals. Simon advises software engineers, tech leads and product leaders paid in salary plus RSUs, often in US dollars, on which lenders may read equity income as it is earned and how to evidence a vesting record.
Which lenders accept RSU income?
Some lenders on our panel may count vested RSUs, and many have no published RSU policy at all. Of those that publish one, some may state that shares vesting under a schedule cannot be treated as standard income, or that share awards are not bonuses and cannot be used as variable pay. Where a high-street lender does engage, it may want a clear line from grant to vesting to cash arriving in your account, and it is the banked amount it may use.
Many clients hold their stock rather than selling, and from an underwriting point of view shares held but not sold may not show an income stream: the lender may be unable to match cash credits to vesting events.
Private banks approach the award differently. They may consider the whole grant, vested and in some cases unvested, in the context of your employer, your other assets and the loan size, and read the vesting schedule as forward evidence of income. For a client with a significant holding who does not regularly sell, the private bank route can be the more productive conversation, though private banks may set minimum loan sizes and may want a wider relationship. Which lenders on our panel sit in each camp, and what each asks for, is set out in our article on which lenders accept RSU income.
How is RSU income assessed by a mortgage lender?
Conservatively, on four tests: vesting history, predictability, liquidity and employer context. RSUs sit outside the standard Pay As You Earn (PAYE) income categories because they are not guaranteed, are paid in shares, depend on future vesting events and move with the share price. A record of units vesting and being sold over twelve to twenty-four months is an evidenceable income stream; a single cliff vest with nothing before it is a much harder case. Quarterly vesting helps, because it gives the underwriter more data points and a smoother pattern than one annual event. Regular vesting on a published schedule from a stable employer reads differently from a sporadic or performance-contingent award. Liquidity can be the test that decides the case: units sold at vest, with the cash visible in your bank statements, may be treated as income; units retained are an asset, however much they are worth. RSUs from a large listed employer may be read more favourably than equity in an earlier-stage business, because the lender is assessing how likely future vesting is to happen and to hold its value.
Where the tests are passed, the method still varies. Some lenders on our panel may include only vested units; some may average the sterling proceeds over two years; some may take the lower of the latest year and the average; some may apply a fixed percentage to whatever figure they land on. There is no standard approach.
Criteria correct as of October 2026. Mortgage lending policies change regularly, for the latest advice, speak to us directly.
study
Senior Engineer Approved for a Mortgage on a £900k Property Using Vested RSUs
A senior software engineer on a £95k base with quarterly RSU vesting needed a mortgage on a £900k property. The vested and sold units were averaged, the award letters, brokerage statements and payslips packaged together, and the case was approved with a part interest-only structure.
Read the full case study →What evidence do you need for an RSU mortgage application?
Five documents: award letters and vesting schedules, brokerage statements, payslips or an employer compensation summary, bank statements, and the tax calculation (SA302) with the HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) Tax Year Overview where RSU income has been declared.
Award letters and vesting schedules establish the grant, the timeline and what is still to come. Brokerage statements show each vest event, any same-day or later sale, and the cash proceeds. Payslips or an employer compensation summary tie the vesting to your employment; where tax is withheld at vest the RSU figure often appears on the payslip, and where proceeds appear only as brokerage credits, a letter from the employer can bridge the gap. Bank statements for the last three to six months, cross-referenced to the vest dates and brokerage credits, show the cash trail. Where RSU income has been declared through Self Assessment, the SA302 and Tax Year Overview give a clear picture of total annual income.
Two gaps recur: statements in USD without the sterling credit shown, which may leave the lender to estimate the conversion, and a vest in the last twelve months that was held rather than sold, which can break the cash pattern a lender may be looking for.
study
US Tech Employee Based in the UK Secures a £2.58m Remortgage Using USD Income and Equity Compensation
A senior employee of a large US technology company, living in the UK and paid entirely in USD with significant RSUs alongside salary and bonus, needed to remortgage a £5.3m home. Many lenders applied heavy currency adjustments or excluded the equity. A private bank assessed the full compensation structure and the case completed at around 49% loan-to-value (LTV).
Read the full case study →How much of your RSU income will a lender count?
Where a lender includes RSU proceeds at all, it may apply a percentage to the averaged figure rather than use the full amount. One lender on our panel publishes 50%; others may settle on a figure case by case; a private bank may go higher where vesting has been regular and the employer is a major listed company. On £80,000 of averaged RSU income, £80,000 × 50% = £40,000 of assessed income; £40,000 × 5 = £200,000, so at a 5x multiple the difference between a lender that includes it and one that excludes it can be as much as £200,000 of borrowing.
After a year in which the share price fell, or in which you held rather than sold, the figure a lender lands on can be well below what the award is worth today.
Please note: These figures are for illustrative purposes only. The actual amount you can borrow will depend upon your personal circumstances, credit profile, LTV, the lender's individual criteria and full affordability assessment.
study
Big Tech Principal Engineer Uses Back-Loaded RSU Vesting to Borrow £1.3m as Base Caps Out
A Principal Engineer at the London office of a large US technology company had seen his base salary sit at £200,000 through three pay reviews while his RSU awards grew, and the family needed £1,300,000. Base salary alone supported around £900,000. A building society on our panel with a published policy on vested RSUs counted half of the £180,000 that vested in the last twelve months, recognised £290,000 of income, and lent £1,300,000 at roughly 4.5 times.
Read the full case study →Do USD-denominated RSUs make it harder?
They add a second adjustment. RSUs from a US-listed employer are granted in USD stock, so a lender that counts the income may also apply a foreign exchange (FX) adjustment to the sterling figure. On our panel that adjustment ranges from nil to around 25%, with 20% published by one lender and a smaller percentage sometimes applied to bonus-type income.
If the proceeds were counted in full, £80,000 × (25% − 10%) = £12,000 of assessed income, and £12,000 × 5 = £60,000 of borrowing. A lender that counts only part of the proceeds would show a smaller difference, because the FX adjustment applies after the RSU percentage.
A presentation that can work well keeps the currency and equity evidence apart. Base salary paid in USD may be converted by the lender's method and may take the adjustment. RSU proceeds that were sold at vest and converted at the brokerage can be evidenced from the sterling credits in your bank statements, and a lender that sees regular sterling credits may be in a cleaner position than one working from USD grant letters. Where the salary itself is in USD, our foreign currency income guide covers how the panel treats it.
study
Private Equity Director Secures a £1.6m Mortgage on a £2.1m Home Using Co-Investment Equity
A different form of equity compensation, the same underwriting question: how much of an illiquid award can be read as income or as repayment capacity. The case shows a lender weighing a documented equity position alongside salary where a mechanical assessment would have excluded it.
Read the full case study →When are RSUs not worth including?
When the salary and cash bonus already carry the loan at a lender with a strong multiple. Adding RSU income brings extra documentation, underwriter questions and possibly a conservative percentage, and if the borrowing figure is already met it adds friction.
When the RSU record has recently changed. A new employer, a new grant structure, or a year in which you held rather than sold can leave a gap in the evidence. In those cases timing the application, or waiting for the next vest to be sold, can do more than forcing the income in now.
And when the complexity simply outweighs the gain. A borrower at 4x on a base salary that comfortably services the loan may have little to gain from pushing to a higher multiple on equity income, and the conversation can slow an application that would otherwise go through cleanly.
How do you structure an RSU mortgage application?
Separate the income into its parts and evidence each on its own. An underwriter who can follow the trail may be more willing to include the income than one handed a single tangled pack.
Show the conversion to cash. If you have held at vest, consider selling at least part of the next vest ahead of the application so that the bank statement evidence exists.
Match the lender to the profile. A high-street lender with no documented RSU policy can leave you relying on underwriter discretion; a lender with a published route, or a private bank with an established approach to equity compensation, may give a more predictable outcome. Where today's lender excludes RSUs, the remortgage in two years is worth planning now; see Remortgaging with RSUs or Bonus-Heavy Income covers.
Part of a wider guide
RSUs are one form of equity compensation. If your package also includes options, deferred stock, co-investment or a long-term incentive plan, the wider guide covers how each is assessed and how to present a multi-part equity case.
Read the equity compensation guide →FAQs
Yes, at some lenders. Many lenders on our panel may exclude RSU income or may consider it only where units have vested and been sold for cash; a small number publish a route, and private banks may assess the whole award. The lender you choose and whether you have sold or held your stock are two of the main variables that move the result.
They can, once vested and converted to cash, at lenders whose policy allows for them. Vested units held as shares may be treated as an asset, and unvested units may be excluded across our panel. Build the case around vested, sold and evidenced proceeds.
Lenders may assess RSU income on vesting history, predictability, liquidity and employer context, not on the award's headline value. Where those tests are met, a lender may include vested units only, average the proceeds over two years, take the lower of the latest year and the average, or apply a percentage such as 50%. There is no single standard method, which is why outcomes vary so much between lenders.
Many lenders that consider RSU income may look for at least twelve months of vesting, and two years can give a more confident position. One lender on our panel may ask for units vested within the last twelve months and in the current financial year, with vesting continuing for at least twelve months more. For private-bank routes a longer record may produce better inclusion terms.
It adds an adjustment. A lender may convert the income to sterling and apply a foreign exchange adjustment of nil to around 25% on top of any RSU percentage. If the units are sold at vest and the sterling credits appear in your bank statements, much of the conversion question may fall away.
Yes, once the shares have been sold and the cash is in your account, which a lender may treat like any other savings. You may need to show the source clearly, usually the brokerage statement showing the sale and the matching bank credit. Shares still held in a brokerage account need further steps before a lender may count them as deposit.
A residential mortgage is secured on the property, so RSUs enter a mortgage as income or as deposit. Borrowing against a vested holding is a separate securities-backed facility offered by some private banks and brokerages, with its own terms. For a mortgage, the question is whether the vested, sold proceeds can be counted as income.
Not automatically. If salary and cash bonus already support the borrowing at a lender with a strong multiple, adding RSU income can bring documentation and underwriting questions. Where the RSU record has recently changed, timing the application can matter more than forcing the income in.
