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nationwide The building society said it has recorded a 53% increase in first-time buyers using its Helping Hand mortgages after allowing people to borrow up to six times their income.
The mortgage deal was changed in September 2024, allowing first-time buyers to borrow up to six times their income, up from the previous maximum multiplier of 5.5 for first-time buyers taking out a Helping Hand mortgage.
Between October 2024 and September 2025, the UK’s largest building society said almost 23,000 people got on to the property ladder using Helping Hand mortgages – representing a 53% increase compared to around 15,000 in the previous 12 months.
Regulators have recently worked to ease or clarify lending rules, making it easier for some borrowers to access mortgages.
Nationwide said it lowered the stress rate in May, extended the Helping Hand to 95% LTV (loan-to-value) new construction homes in June and relaxed Helping Hand minimum income requirements in July.
Henry Jordan, mortgage group director at Nationwide, said: “These latest figures for the last 12 months show that our decision to increase lending to six times income has been a gamechanger for thousands of first-time buyers.
“But we’re not stopping there, and with the support of Government “And with regulatory changes throughout 2025, we have been able to progressively increase our support for potential homeowners.”
The Helping Hand mortgage deal, first launched in April 2021, now gives eligible first-time buyers the option to borrow up to six times income when they take out a five or 10 year fixed rate mortgage with as little as a 5% deposit. Nationwide’s standard lending maximum is 4.5 times income.
In total, more than 63,000 people have got on the property ladder with Helping Hand since mortgages were launched, and they have lent almost £13 billion, the society said.
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The average age of sole applicants using Helping Hand is 31 years and for joint applicants, it is slightly lower, 30 years.
Nationwide said the mortgage has been particularly popular in areas where house prices are high.
The Outer South East region leads the way in terms of helping hands, accounting for 28% of mortgages. The area includes Ashford, Bedford, Braintree, Brighton and Hove, Canterbury, Chichester, Colchester, Dover,. EastbourneIsle of Wight, Maldon, Milton Keynes, New Forest, Portsmouth, southamptonWinchester and Oxfordshire.
Helping Hand accounts for more than a fifth (23%) of mortgages in London and south west The ratio is 12%.
Uptake is lower in the North-West of England, at just 4%, despite the region representing 11% of first-time buyer loans nationwide. The society said average house prices for first-time buyers may be lower in the area than in some other areas.
Nationwide, single applicants for Helping Hand mortgages are more prevalent in the North.
More than nine in 10 (92%) applications completed by Helping Hand in Scotland have been from a single applicant. In the North, which includes areas such as Tyneside, Teesside and Cumbria, 87% of Helping Hand cases were from single applicants.
By contrast, in the outer South East, 45% of Helping Hand mortgage applications are joint applications.
The mortgage requires a minimum income of £30,000 for single applicants and a combined £50,000 for joint applicants.