Borrowers offered huge mortgage deals

Borrowers can now take out a mortgage of up to six times their salaries, according to recent reports.

Mortgage lenders are now willing to splash out huge loans to allow desperate first-time buyers to get on the property ladder, with soaring property prices and a lack of affordable housing becoming major stumbling blocks.

The Daily Telegraph claims high street names such as Alliance & Leicester, the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Northern Rock are now lending huge amounts compared to a person’s salary.

Nick Gardner from Chase De Vere Mortgage Management told the paper: “We have done deals for more than six times income with Alliance and Leicester, and very near that with Abbey and Intelligent Finance.”

But borrowers must still meet strict “affordability criteria”, claim the banks, meaning borrowers must be on high-end salaries, sometimes as high as £100,000 per year, or take on mortgages of a long-term fixed rate.

Of course, critics argue this means people who can normally afford a mortgage anyway will be the only ones to benefit from the deals.

Tags: Affordable housing, abbey, mortgage management, property prices, huge loans, daily telegraph, long-term fixed rate.Of