Leeds Building Society has become one of the first lenders to confirm its Help to Buy London product details ahead of the 1 February launch.
Announced in the 2015 Autumn Statement, the scheme allows borrowers with a 5% deposit to apply for an interest-free loan from the government of up to 40% of the property value.
This is 20% higher than the 20% loan offered by the first Help to buy: Equity Loan scheme launched three years ago.
The two Leeds deals include a two-year fixed rate at 1.79% with a £799 fee and a five-year fixed rate at 2.45% with a £199 fee, both with free valuations.
“The London scheme goes live on Monday and we’re releasing details of our products early in order to help our intermediary partners start the process and better support borrowers,” said Martin Richardson, Leeds Building Society’s director of business development (pictured).
Leeds has been offering Help to Buy: Equity loans since 2013 and became the first to accept remortgage applications for the government schemes.
“This latest development of the scheme in London makes Help to Buy a practical solution in the capital, where the average house price is almost 18 times the average salary,” said Richardson.
The ONS House Price Index confirms the average London house price at £531,000 is far beyond the average salary at £29,868.80.
Victoria Hartley is contributing editor at Mortgage Solutions, Specialist Lending Solutions, Your Money and Your Mortgage at London-based publishing company AE3 Media.
She has an MA in Radio from Goldsmiths after gaining a 2:1 in a Comparative American Studies BA at Warwick University. She also holds a TEFL qualification and taught overseas in Mexico and Japan from 1994 to 1997.
Her role includes editorial oversight of the news, analysis and features, event content management and strategic and editorial consultancy for the AE3 Media group. She is an experienced video, broadcast and live-event host and regularly chairs web and podcast debates and interviews.
Multiple award nominations have resulted in two wins: Santander Media Awards, trade journalist of the year and Headlinemoney Awards, mortgage journalist of the year (B2B). Here is one of the award-winning pieces: https://www.mortgagesolutions.co.uk/news/2011/07/21/exclusive-tale-bailey-fraud-witness/
Previous roles include editorships of Mortgage Solutions, consumer title What Mortgage and trade title Credit Today as well as a stint freelancing for a variety of outlets including The Guardian and Which? Money.
