Nationwide extends six times lending to home movers and remortgage
- Nationwide enhances support for people looking to move up the property ladder or get a new mortgage deal
- Five-fold increase in Nationwide loans to first-time buyers at or above 5.5x income in 2025, compared to 2024
- Increased first-time buyer support follows regulatory changes to improve affordability
Nationwide is today announcing a major boost to the UK housing market, extending its high loan‑to‑income (LTI) lending to support a wider range of borrowers. The change will see home movers and customers remortgaging able to borrow up to six times their income.
Britain’s biggest building society remains fully committed to its founding principle of helping people to buy a home of their own and will continue to target most of its permitted high loan-to-income loans at first-time buyers through Helping Hand.
This latest enhancement builds on Nationwide’s criteria changes in 2025, all of which follow on from the series of regulatory changes last year aimed at opening up the mortgage market to support both borrowers and the Government’s housebuilding ambitions.
Home movers and remortgage:
Nationwide will now lend up to six times income to both new and existing customers moving home or remortgaging up to 95 per cent loan‑to‑value (LTV).
To qualify for the enhanced borrowing, new customers moving home or remortgaging to Nationwide will need a minimum annual income of £75,000 for sole applicants, or £100,000 for joint applications.
However, to support existing Nationwide customers wanting to move to their next home in 2026, such as previous first-time buyers who benefitted from Helping Hand, there will be no minimum income requirements.
For all remortgage applications made that don’t require any additional borrowing, Nationwide already allows borrowing up to 6.5 times income up to 95 per cent LTV.
Supporting first-time buyers:
In 2025, Nationwide saw a 57 per cent increase in the number of first-time buyer mortgages taken at or above five times income compared with 2024, as well as an over five-fold increase in loans to those borrowing at or above five and a half times their income.
This increased support for first-time buyers, as well as the ability to now widen and enhance lending, has been unlocked by the regulatory changes made last year, including the clarification of stress rate rules by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the review of the LTI flow limit by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA). Prior to today’s announcement, these welcome changes led to Nationwide easing lending criteria for higher LTI lending to first-time buyers in July.
Nationwide’s Helping Hand scheme, which allows lending up to six times income, remains available to first-time buyers only.
Henry Jordan, Nationwide’s Group Director of Mortgages, said:
“The government and regulatory changes last year have been a game changer for first-time buyers. Alongside our Helping Hand expansion to six times income in September 2024, they’ve enabled greater support for those who need it most. Over the past year, we’ve seen a five-fold increase in the number of first-time buyers borrowing between 5.5 and six times income. Our latest announcement means we will provide similar support to those looking to move home or remortgage to Nationwide and shows our commitment to all parts of the market.”
How much can be borrowed?
The following are illustrative examples. The amount that can be borrowed will be dependent on the applicant’s individual circumstances.
| New customers moving home or remortgaging | Existing Nationwide customer moving home or borrowing more | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Sole applicant | Joint applicants | ||
| Income | £75,000 | £100,000 | £50,000 |
| Previous Maximum Loan | £412,500 | £550,000 | £275,000 |
| New Maximum Loan | £450,000 | £600,000 | £300,000 |
| Uplift | £37,500 | £50,000 | £25,000 |
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