Nationwide account with £30,000 rule sees massive surge in signups

Nationwide Building Society said it has recorded a 53% jump in first-time buyers using its Helping Hand mortgage after it started allowing people to borrow up to six times their income.

The mortgage deal was changed in September 2024, enabling first-time buyers to borrow up to six times their income, increasing from a previous maximum multiple of 5.5 for first-time buyers taking out a Helping Hand mortgage.

Between October 2024 and September 2025, Britain's biggest building society said about 23,000 people climbed onto the property ladder using the Helping Hand mortgage - marking a 53% increase compared with about 15,000 in the 12 months beforehand.

The mortgage has minimum income requirements of £30,000 for single applicants and a combined £50,000 for joint applicants.

Regulators have recently acted to ease or clarify lending rules, making it easier for some borrowers to access mortgages.

Nationwide said it reduced stress rates in May, extended Helping Hand to 95% LTV (loan-to-value) new build houses in June and relaxed Helping Hand minimum income requirements in July.

Henry Jordan, Nationwide's group director of mortgages, said: "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.

"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%. 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% 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%) of Helping Hand mortgages are accounted for by London and in the South West the proportion is 12%.

Uptake is lower in the North West of England, which accounts for just 4%, despite the region representing 11% 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 (92%) Helping Hand completed applications in Scotland have been single applicants. In the North, which comprises 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 have been joint ones.