Rightmove endorses new 90% first time buyer mortgage

Britain’s second largest lender is to offer 90 per cent loan to value mortgages once again from next Monday - a response, it says, to the stamp duty holiday.

Many housing market analysts commented at the time of the stamp duty holiday announcement that the market needed - either instead or alongside - greater access to higher LTV mortgage for first time purchasers. 

Now the Nationwide Building Society says from next Monday it will provide 90 per cent loans to first timers, with no set limit on the number of home loans available.

The loans will be available directly from Nationwide as well as via brokers but the building society cautions that ”as a responsible lender, enhanced criteria will apply.”

Unusually, the launch announcement from the society comes with the endorsement of Rightmove. 

The portal’s commercial director, Miles Shipside, says: “The ability for lenders to offer lower deposit mortgages to first-time buyers is critical to helping the market recover more quickly. The stamp duty holiday is of limited benefit to those first-time buyers who are already exempt from it in many parts of the country, and so Nationwide’s return to 90 per cent loan-to-value is likely to help significantly more for those trying to get their first step on the ladder.”

And Henry Jordan, director of mortgages at Nationwide Building Society, adds: “We understand one of the biggest barriers to homeownership is raising a deposit. As a building society, owned by our members, we are extremely well placed to look at ways of helping people into a home of their own. While we will continue to monitor the market carefully, we feel it is the right time to enhance our lending, initially to those looking for their first home.”

The society says the duty holiday directly influenced the introduction of its 90% first time buyer product as “first time buyers [are] able to save up to £10,000 when moving into their first home. This support, combined with a more active housing market following the lifting of lockdown restrictions, has provided an opportunity for the society to return to higher LTV lending. Nationwide hopes the move will provide some more reassurance and opportunity for its members and the market following a period of such uncertainty.”