Lender tops UK market with over 180,000 mortgages
Nationwide Building Society issued more mortgages to first-time buyers than any other UK bank or building society in 2024, according to the latest data from market research provider CACI.
The lender led the market for eight out of the 12 months and topped the charts for every month in the second half of the year.
CACI’s Mortgage Market Database, which compiled numbers from over 20 major UK residential mortgage lenders, showed that in total, Nationwide delivered more than 180,000 mortgages last year, with over one-third going to first-time buyers. The lender attributed this performance to its strategy of prioritising support for those entering the housing market.
Nationwide – the world’s largest building society and one the UK’s largest mortgage lenders – said a key factor behind the rise in its lending was its Helping Hand mortgage, which allows borrowers to access loans up to six times their income with a loan-to-value (LTV) ratio of up to 95%. Nationwide remains the only major lender offering this combination, aiming to address affordability challenges and the difficulty of saving for a deposit.
Launched in 2021, Helping Hand accounted for 23% of Nationwide’s first-time buyer loans in 2024. The average loan size for these borrowers was approximately £249,000—26% higher than the £197,000 average loan for all first-time buyers with Nationwide last year. In comparison, the average loan size stood at around £159,000 in 2020.
Like other lenders, Nationwide is subject to regulatory limits that cap loans of 4.5 times or more of a borrower’s income to no more than 15% of new lending. Nationwide said it allocates most of this capacity to first-time buyers and is urging the government to review the restriction.
“We believe it’s important to put first-time buyers first given how tough it is to get on the housing ladder,” said Henry Jordan, director of home at Nationwide Building Society. “Our enhanced Helping Hand mortgage is extremely popular with first-time buyers, and we are committed to finding new ways to ease affordability. Increasing the loan-to-income lending cap would also enable lenders to support more first-time buyers.”
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