Speaking at The British Mortgage and Protection Senate last week, Haire (pictured) said the mortgage which launched in May this year and had attracted big interest initially and £40m in mortgage applications, was always designed to be niche and help borrowers out of a rental trap.
“What we learned though, post-launch, was that there were an awful lot of people who were in the housing market that had come out due to changes in personal circumstances or whatever else – we’d excluded them and we wanted to bring them back in,” said Haire.
“With the changes we announced last week, we will materially increase the full volume into the product without taking on more risk,” he added.
The criteria amendment now allows tenants who have been homeowners prior to the last three years, who can evidence affordability and with a strong track record of rental payments to borrow up to 100 per cent of a property’s value.
Haire said Skipton has also been conservative on the product’s affordability assessment, which is right for the product. He said the mutual is also exploring further avenues to help first-time buyers (like joint borrower sole proprietor) and other ‘orthodoxy challenging products.’
“Think of the nurses and key workers excluded from the housing market when rents are going up 10 per cent. We’ve got to play our part here. We’ve got to start to lean into some of these areas and take the chance to challenge ourselves,” he said.
