Nationwide Building Society has reported a 53 per cent jump in first-time buyers using its 'Helping Hand' mortgage, following a decision to allow borrowing up to six times an applicant's income.
The mortgage deal was adjusted in September 2024, raising the maximum income multiple for first-time buyers from 5.5 to six times their earnings under the 'Helping Hand' scheme.
Between October 2024 and September 2025, Britain’s largest building society reported that around 23,000 people climbed onto the property ladder using 'Helping Hand’.
That was a 53 per cent increase compared with the approximately 15,000 in the 12 months prior.
Regulators have recently acted to ease or clarify lending rules, making mortgage access easier for some borrowers.
Nationwide said it reduced stress rates in May, extended Helping Hand to 95 per cent LTV (loan-to-value) new build houses in June and relaxed Helping Hand minimum income requirements in July.
“These latest figures for the past 12 months show that our decision to increase borrowing up to six times income has been a gamechanger for thousands of first-time buyers,” Henry Jordan, Nationwide’s group director of mortgages, said.
“But we’re not stopping there, and with the support of government and regulatory changes throughout 2025, we’ve been able to progressively increase our support for potential homeowners.”
The Helping Hand mortgage deal was first launched in April 2021, now giving eligible first-time buyers the option of borrowing up to six times income when taking a five or 10-year fixed-rate mortgage with a deposit as low as 5 per cent.
Nationwide’s standard lending maximum is 4.5 times income.
The society said in total more than 63,000 people have got onto the property ladder with Helping Hand, since the mortgage launched, with about £13 billion lent.
The average age of sole applicants using Helping Hand is 31 and for joint applicants, it is slightly lower, at aged 30.
Nationwide said the mortgage has been particularly popular in areas with higher house prices.
The Outer South East region leads the uptake of Helping Hand, accounting for 28 per cent of mortgages. The area includes Ashford, Bedford, Braintree, Brighton and Hove, Canterbury, Chichester, Colchester, Dover, Eastbourne, Isle of Wight, Maldon, Milton Keynes, New Forest, Portsmouth, Southampton, Winchester and Oxfordshire.
More than a fifth (23 per cent) of Helping Hand mortgages are accounted for by London and in the South West the proportion is 12 per cent.
Uptake is lower in the North West of England, which accounts for just 4 per cent, despite the region representing 11 per cent of Nationwide’s first-time buyer lending. This may be down to lower average first-time buyer house prices in the region compared with some other areas, the society said.
Single applicants for Nationwide’s Helping Hand mortgage are more prevalent further north.
More than nine in 10 Helping Hand completed applications in Scotland have been single applicants. In the North, which comprises areas such as Tyneside, Teesside and Cumbria, 87 per cent of Helping Hand cases were from single applicants.
By contrast, in the Outer South East, 45 per cent of Helping Hand mortgage applications have been joint ones.
The mortgage has minimum income requirements of £30,000 for single applicants and a combined £50,000 for joint applicants.
