Speaking to the Press Association, the mutual’s chief executive Debbie Crosbie said the current high loan-to-income (LTI) cap was restricting its lending.
The mutual said the limit was reached every year.
Crosbie added: “The reality is that if we didn’t have the limit as low, then we could be lending to more first-time buyers.
“For Nationwide alone, we think it could be an extra 10,000 [per year], and it could be multiples of that if the market limit was raised.”
Lenders that complete more than £100m in residential mortgage lending each year can only issue 15% of advances above the four-and-a-half times income limit.
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The Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) are currently reviewing whether this should be raised to £150m.
Nationwide has previously called on regulators to review the cap to help more first-time buyers. In its annual results released today, the mutual announced that the number of new homeowners the mutual helped get onto the property ladder rose from 64,000 in 2024 to 120,000 during the 12 months ending 31 March 2025.
It also completed £44.7bn in gross mortgage lending.
Crosbie said the mortgage market was “very competitive” and that Nationwide’s margin was “definitely lower this year than it has been in previous years”.
Muir Mathieson, Nationwide’s CFO, added that the market continued to be busy and had resulted in the mutual having its busiest month of lending in March.
He said: “What’s been fascinating though is that, in April and May, the strength of the mortgage market has continued.
“We haven’t seen the cliff-edge, that drop-off in mortgage activity in April and May that we were expecting, quite frankly.
“The mortgage market continues to be really resilient and we’re intending to remain competitive within it.”
