Many first time buyers have been struggling to get a foot on the housing ladder thanks to the increased level of deposit required by all the mortgage lenders over the last year.
However, today the HSBC has announced the first 90 per cent loan to value mortgage we have seen in a while open to first time buyers and has said there is an available £500 million of additional lending to help first time buyers get their first mortgage.
The deal is only available to those purchasing property, not to those seeking remortgages and the best rate in 5.99 per cent for a two year fixed rate mortgage deal, which comes with an arrangement fee of £599.
The bank had already made mortgage loans worth £1 billion in 2009 so far to those who could only raise a 10 per cent deposit and this move has helped to make them the UK’s largest mortgage lender for the first six months of this year. This new move may very well see them become the UK’s largest mortgage lender for the whole of 2009 unless another lender makes a similar move fairly quickly.
Head of Mortgages at HSBC, Martijn van der Heijden, told the media:
“Prices seem to have bottomed out and rates are low – so many of those who put off buying last year are looking around.”
Does this spell a definitive end to the housing crash?
