Nationwide is boosting support for single applicant first-time buyers by lowering the minimum income requirement on its Helping Hand back down to £35,000.
The lender increased the minimum income requirement for sole applicants on its Helping Hand mortgage range from £35,000 to £40,000 earlier this year.
For joint applicants, the minimum combined income will remain the same at £55,000.
Helping Hand enables borrowing of up to six times income when taking a five or ten-year fixed rate up to 95% LTV. This gives potential homeowners a 33% uplift versus Nationwide’s standard lending at 4.5 times income.
First-time buyers also receive £500 cashback when they complete their mortgage with Nationwide and can also benefit from an additional cashback of up to £500 if they purchase an energy-efficient property through Nationwide’s Green Reward.
Current regulations limit the amount of high loan-to-income (LTI) lending banks and building societies can do to no more than 15% of their total qualifying loans. As a result, Nationwide increased minimum income requirements for Helping Hand in recent months in order to stay within the limit.
Henry Jordan, Nationwide’s Director of Home, said: “We continue to do all we can to put first-time buyers first and aim to set our Helping Hand minimum income requirements at levels that give it the widest appeal. Helping Hand has proven extremely popular with prospective homeowners, especially since we extended it to six times income, and we continue to provide as much support as possible, whilst remaining within the high loan-to-income lending regulations.
“While we are pleased to be able to reduce the minimum income requirement for sole applicants again, we want to do more and that’s why we continue to call for a review of the 15% limit.”
