Nationwide has asked the government to review the cap restricting how much new mortgage lending can be issued at or above 4.5x income.
This comes as the mutual revealed it had lent to more first-time buyers than any other bank or building society in the UK. According to data from CACI, Nationwide was the top lender for eight out of 12 months last year, and maintained its position throughout the second half of 2024.
It provided more than 180,000 mortgages last year, with more than a third going to first-time buyers.
This was backed by Nationwide increasing the loan to income (LTI) from 5.5x income to 6x income across its Helping Hand mortgage boost in September last year. This change enables lending up to 6x income to first-time buyers on loans of up to 95% loan to value.
The range launched in April 2021 and made up 23% of its first-time buyer mortgages in 2024. In 2020, the average loan size for first-time buyers was around £159,000 and last year, this rose to around £197,000.
Those who qualified for a Helping Hand mortgage borrowed £249,000 on average.
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Nationwide said while it was limited to lending no more than 15% of new loans at or above 4.5x income and currently allocates most of that to first-time buyers, it called on the government to review this.
This also comes as the Chancellor wrote to regulators asking them to review lending regulations to boost the mortgage market.
Henry Jordan, director of home at Nationwide, said: “We believe it’s important to put first-time buyers first given how tough it is to get on the housing ladder. Our enhanced Helping Hand mortgage is extremely popular with first-time buyers and we are committed to finding new ways to ease affordability.
“Increasing the LTI lending cap would also enable lenders to support more first-time buyers.”
