The increased income cap is available to certain professionals, including police, firefighters, paramedics, doctors, accountants, barristers, teachers, engineers, lawyers, dentists, architects, surveyors and vets.
Borrowers who earn a minimum of £75,000 basic salary are also eligible for the increased income cap.
Single and joint applications will be considered but one applicant in a joint application will be eligible for up to seven times salary, whilst the other will be accepted for Habito’s standard five times income criteria.
The enhanced affordability is only available for employed applicants and they must have 12 months of employment history. The maximum loan size is £1.5m for 85 per cent loan to value (LTV) or less, or £1.25m between 85 per cent LTV and 90 per cent LTV.
Rates for the Habito One product, which launched in March this year, start from 2.99 per cent without early repayment charges (ERCs) and 2.79 per cent with ERCs. The average term is 25 years.
Daniel Hegarty, founder and chief executive of Habito, said extending Habito One’s affordability would allow borrowers to afford a better home than they would otherwise.
He added that it would be attractive to those who want to purchase a house with “future potential” or those who are expecting pay rises over their careers as the long-term fixed rate product allows them to make unlimited overpayments.
He said: “As a free, whole of market broker, we can provide our customers with expert, regulated advice on where they can get the best levels of borrowing available to them in the UK – from hundreds of lenders and thousands of mortgage products.
“Now, with Habito One, it means we can go further and offer eligible applicants the best levels of lending in the whole market, should they need it. We’re really excited to be able to help people potentially get on the housing ladder a little faster, or in a way that wasn’t available to them before, so they can move into the home that’s right for them, at a time in their life that suits them best.”
The latest figures show that the average price of a home is 8.6 times earnings, whereas as the typical mortgage lending cap is at 4-4.5 times income. In London this is more aggravated, where the average home costs 11.7 times earnings.
