While Lloyds has identified the largest barrier facing people who are trying to buy their first home, its new deposit-free mortgage offers scant comfort for those who are not fortunate enough to have a “Bank of Mum and Dad” (Lloyds offers 100% mortgages for first-timers with well-off relations, 28 January).
I have asked the Building Societies Association whether its members would consider taking this reform one step further. This proposal was prompted by Santander’s research which showed that in every region of the country, the net income of households would significantly increase if they could buy rather than rent, but that higher rents prevent such families all too often being able to save for a deposit.
The deposit-free mortgages I am proposing would be aimed at those whose net income would increase significantly by moving from renting to buying, and who are not fortunate enough to be able to draw upon the “Bank of Mum and Dad”. Such mortgages would allow those households to be in a better position to meet their repayments from this increase in net income.
Frank Field MP
Independent, Birkenhead
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