Nationwide’s enhance of its borrowing restrict to 6 instances revenue has led to a 53% rise in first-time consumers utilizing its Serving to Hand mortgage over the previous yr.
Between October 2024 and September 2025, Nationwide supported round 23,000 first-time consumers with Serving to Hand, up from about 15,000 within the earlier 12 months. The variety of Serving to Hand completions on new construct properties additionally elevated by 102% throughout this era, offering extra alternatives for housebuilders and contributing to authorities housebuilding targets.
This era additionally noticed regulatory adjustments, together with updates to emphasize fee guidelines by the Monetary Conduct Authority (FCA) and a leisure of Mortgage-to-Earnings (LTI) circulation limits by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA). Nationwide responded by reducing stress charges in Might, extending Serving to Hand to 95% loan-to-value new builds in June, and easing minimal revenue necessities in July.
Henry Jordan, Nationwide’s group director of mortgages, stated: “Affordability stays a major barrier to homeownership. We launched Serving to Hand in April 2021 to deal with this, and we’re delighted to see the constructive affect it’s made for thus lots of our members, supporting greater than 63,000 into their first residence.
“These newest figures for the previous 12 months present that our choice to extend borrowing as much as six instances revenue has been a gamechanger for 1000’s of first-time consumers. However we’re not stopping there, and with the assist of presidency and regulatory adjustments all through 2025, we’ve been capable of progressively enhance our assist for potential householders as we proceed to place first-time consumers first.”
Serving to Hand: Nationwide’s Serving to Hand was launched in April 2021. It offers eligible first-time consumers the choice of borrowing as much as six instances revenue when taking a 5 or ten-year fastened fee mortgage as much as 95 per cent Mortgage-to-Worth (LTV). This equates to a 33 per cent uplift versus Nationwide’s commonplace lending at 4.5 instances.
Nationwide says it has helped greater than 63,000 folks into a house of their very own through Serving to Hand since its launch in April 2021, with round £13 billion lent. Final yr, Nationwide helped extra first-time consumers than another lender.
Serving to Hand – elevated borrowing: An eligible first-time purchaser incomes £30,000 with a 5% deposit might borrow as much as £180,000 with a Serving to Hand mortgage – £45,000 greater than they may with out it (£135,000). A pair with a joint revenue of £50,000 and the identical deposit might borrow as much as £300,000, in comparison with simply £225,000 with out Serving to Hand – a £75,000 uplift.
Serving to Hand – common age: Serving to Hand is enabling folks to deliver ahead the acquisition of their first residence. The typical age of sole candidates utilizing Serving to Hand is 31 (for joint candidates, it’s 30 years outdated). That is two to a few years sooner than the typical age of a first-time purchaser throughout the market, which presently stands at 33, based on UK Finance.
Serving to Hand – regional take-up: Nationwide’s Home Value Index5 exhibits UK first-time consumers face a mean property value of £231,260, however prices fluctuate.5 Serving to Hand has been a gamechanger within the Outer South East, the place the typical value is £263,455. The area leads uptake, with 28 per cent of all Serving to Hand mortgages and 15 per cent of all Nationwide’s first-time purchaser mortgages.
In response to Nationwide, Serving to Hand is hottest in higher-cost areas. In London, the place the typical first-time purchaser house is £450,255, it makes up over a fifth of all Serving to Hand mortgages (23%) and 10% of Nationwide’s complete first-time purchaser mortgages.
Within the South West, with common first-time purchaser home costs at £247,706, it accounts for 12% of Serving to Hand mortgages.
In distinction, uptake is decrease within the North West, which accounts for simply 4%, regardless of the area representing 11% of Nationwide’s first-time purchaser lending. This can be right down to the decrease common first-time purchaser home value being £173,114.
Single or joint candidates: Single candidates for Nationwide’s Serving to Hand are extra prevalent within the north of the nation. Greater than 9 in ten (92%) Serving to Hand instances in Scotland have been single candidates – that compares to only 64% of non-Serving to Hand instances. Within the North (which includes areas, akin to Tyneside, Teesside and Cumbria), 87% of Serving to Hand instances have been from single candidates (versus 58% of non-Serving to Hand instances).
On the different finish of the nation, the Outer Metropolitan (46%) and Outer South East (45%) areas noticed the most important proportion of joint mortgage purposes utilizing Serving to Hand.
Occupational assist: The minimal revenue requirement (£30,000 for single candidates and mixed £50,000 for joint candidates) has meant that Nationwide’s Serving to Hand has supported first-time consumers working throughout a wide range of sectors. This consists of:
+ Medical professionals (medical doctors, nurses, dentists)
+ Emergency providers (police, firefighters, paramedics)
+ Schooling (lecturers and lecturers)
+ Tradespeople (builders, bricklayers, electricians, plumbers)
+ Authorities employees (civil servants, council employees)
Reflecting on the most recent Serving to Hand information, Nicholas Mendes, mortgage technical supervisor at Joh Charcol, commented: “Nationwide’s figures spotlight how constructive innovation within the mortgage market will be. A 53% bounce in first-time consumers utilizing Serving to Hand over the previous yr underlines pent-up demand amongst aspiring householders and the affect of extra versatile lending standards.
“The choice to permit borrowing as much as six instances revenue has opened extra conversations with would-be consumers who had not imagined they may get on the ladder. It’s also serving to to push marginal instances over the road. That could be a important increase for these struggling to bridge the hole between wages and home costs, notably in high-cost areas akin to London and the South-East.
“This isn’t merely about bigger loans. It’s about enabling financially secure debtors, akin to key employees and younger professionals, to purchase sooner and with higher confidence. The growth to 95% mortgage to worth on new-build properties additionally helps development exercise at a time when rising housing provide stays a nationwide precedence.
“It’s comprehensible that some debtors are cautious about larger revenue multiples. Lenders do, nevertheless, underwrite totally to make sure borrowing is inexpensive and sustainable. This underscores the worth of talking to a mortgage dealer to grasp how this, and any mortgage product, matches your wants and circumstances. In a market the place affordability pressures have grown sooner than wages, these measures could make a significant distinction.
“Nationwide’s proactive response to regulatory adjustments exhibits how lenders can adapt safely to altering circumstances and proceed to assist residence possession in a sustainable method.”
