Skipton Building Society is launching new mortgages for the Help to Buy London and Help to Buy Scotland shared equity schemes.
The Society is offering a Help to Buy London product range at 55% LTV, which will include two and five year fixed rate mortgages with a range of fee options, all with the additional benefit of free standard valuations.
Its new Help to Buy Scotland product range will have an 80% LTV, which includes two and five year fee free, fixed rate mortgages, also with the additional benefit of free standard valuations.
Previously, products were available only to a panel of pre-approved new build specialist firms.
All Help to Buy products, including the new London and Scotland deals, are also available direct from the lender via Skipton Direct.
Kris Brewster, the Society’s head of products, said: “We are delighted to offer these new Help to Buy London and Scotland products, demonstrating Skipton’s continued commitment to supporting the needs of the new build market. We believe this new range offers great value for purchasers of new properties in London and Scotland and for those wishing to remortgage their existing new home.
“We have a total of 19 products in our Help to Buy product range, which we can now offer to the whole of the market via intermediaries and directly through Skipton. This will not only enable people to get the keys to their dream new home but to ensure it best meets their financial needs.”
Help to Buy London was launched on 1 February and gives aspiring homeowners who have been frozen out of the market in London the opportunity to get on the housing ladder. First-time buyers with a 5% deposit can borrow up to 40% of the value on a new home priced up to £600,000. They will need a mortgage of 55% to cover the rest.
The government has introduced a number of new schemes in recent years to help those looking to buy a home, including Help to Buy and Right to Buy. In the Autumn Statement last year, Chancellor George Osborne unveiled plans to build 400,000 homes and announced a 3% rise in stamp duty as part of the government’s aim to curb the buy-to-let sector and free up property for first-time buyers.
The Help to Buy mortgage guarantee scheme provides a government guarantee to lenders on mortgages where a borrower has a deposit of between 5% and 20% for existing properties as well as a new-build.
Help to Buy ISAs, introduced in December, give first-time buyers saving for a deposit the opportunity to put away £200 a month in a dedicated ISA that the government will top up by 25%, up to a maximum of £3,000.
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