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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Business
Guardian community team

UK first-time buyers: would you borrow up to six times your earnings for a mortgage?

For sale and to let boards on a street in York.
For sale and to let boards on a street in York. Photograph: John Giles/PA

In what is a first for a major high street lender, Nationwide, Britain’s biggest building society, is allowing first-time buyers to borrow up to six times their income.

From Tuesday, it would give new buyers the option of borrowing up to six times their income when taking out a five- or 10-year fixed rate for up to 95% of the property’s value.

Lloyds and Halifax already allow new buyers to take out loans worth up to 5.5 times their household annual income. Traditionally the typical maximum for how much someone could borrow was 4.5 times their annual income.

If you are a first-time buyer we want to hear from you. What do you think of Nationwide’s offer? Is it something you might be interested in? Do you have any concerns?

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