95% New Build Mortgages Now Available From Halifax

From 1^st July 2022 Halifax are increasing their availability of new build and shared ownership mortgages by increasing the loan to value (LTV) to 95%.

Until this change Halifax have restricted their new build mortgages to 90% for houses and bungalows and 85% for flats. Under the government’s Mortgage Guarantee Scheme they are now reducing the minimum deposit to 5%. Restrictions however will still apply for new build flats of 85% loan to value (LTV) as per their present criteria.

Andrew Mason, head of strategic partnerships and housing, at Halifax, said: “We recognise that getting a deposit together is still the biggest hurdle faced by most first-time buyers, and these changes could reduce the minimum deposit required on an average house to as little as £4000.”

“This also underlines our confidence in the new build market and our support for the UK construction industry. We have worked closely with the industry and listened to their needs to develop these changes.”

“Just as importantly, supporting new build homes supports the drive to net zero by making warmer, greener homes more accessible and attainable for potentially thousands of new buyers.”

Certain criteria will still apply with some of the main elements being:

• Minimum 5% personal deposit is required.
• Product fees cannot be added above 95%.
• Cash incentives are acceptable provided the loan, cash incentive and any product fee being added together do not exceed 95%
• Maximum loan amount of £570,000.
• This must be the customer’s only residence and they must not have an interest in any other properties such as a second home or buy to let.
• A maximum 4.49x loan to income (LTI) cap will be applied as part of the affordability assessment.
• Current credit commitments will be deducted as ongoing in the affordability calculation even when declared as ‘to be repaid’ at or before completion. The loan amount must be affordable with these commitments deducted as remaining.

In regard to shared ownership, this is also being increased from 90% to 95% loan to value of the customers share and this will be inclusive of new build flats.