The lender will now lend up to 75 per cent LTV to £750,000. The previous limit was a value of £500,000. Swift will continue to lend on properties valued over £750K at a reduced 70 per cent LTV.
At the same time it has raised the LTV limit on drive-by valuations to 70 per cent from 65 per cent. These changes, designed to complement rising house price levels, apply to both first and second charges and will increase the number of cases that will benefit from faster processing.
John Webster, chief executive of Swift Group, commented: “With house prices continuing to increase almost three times faster than earnings it is no great surprise to see loan to value percentages rising to accommodate this change. At Swift we always try to be proactive in making changes that show how a little bit of flexibility can make life easier for the intermediary. We wanted to cater for greater loan sizes and speed up the processing of applications. Raising the LTV limit for larger loans and drive-by valuations will help greatly.
“Drive-by valuations will continue to be complementary to the use of AVM’s in our overall service proposition. These changes broaden the number of cases where an intermediary can recommend Swift and also improves their service to clients.”
