Leeds reduces first time buyer mortgage by up to 0.50%

Leeds Building Society has reduced the rate on its 5 Year Fixed Rate Local Authority Mortgage Scheme (LAMS) mortgage by 0.50%, to 4.99%, which is available up to 95% LTV.

Leeds, the only LAMS provider to offer a 5 Year Fixed Rate Mortgage, has also launched a 3 Year Fixed Rate Mortgage at 4.29%, also available up to 95% LTV. The Society is making these improvements to help even more first time buyers (FTBs) onto the housing ladder.
 
Leeds Building Society has seen a year on year increase in the number of its FTBs of over 30%. Since the start of the year, the Society helped 1,716 FTBs purchase their first home, compared to 1,312 in the corresponding period in 2012. In terms of market share, stats from the CML show a 20.5% increase in the number of FTB cases during January and February this year. Leeds Building Society's comparison during January and February 2013 is a 79.4% increase (899 in 2013 compared to 501 in 2012).
 
The Society's "A Helping Hand" initiative makes even more much needed 95% mortgages available to those who can afford the mortgage repayments but are currently unable to provide a large deposit. Normal lending criteria applies, so only those FTBs who can comfortably afford to make repayments will benefit. Ten Local Authorities (Leeds, Warrington, Bristol, Blackpool, Hertfordshire, Watford, Three Rivers, North Hertfordshire, Stevenage and Dacorum) place funds with the UK's 5th largest building society as security, with Leeds then providing these very competitive 3 and 5 Year Fixed Rate mortgages requiring only a 5% deposit. 
 
Kim Rebecchi, Sales and Marketing Director at Leeds Building Society said, "We have offered mortgages throughout the economic downturn and continue to increase lending, particularly to FTBs, through our shared ownership, shared equity and guarantor mortgages. Between January and April this year we helped over 1,700 FTBs onto the housing ladder, which is an increase of over 30% from a year earlier.
 
"In order to improve our proposition further, we have cut the rate by 0.50% on our 5 Year Fixed Rate Mortgage to 4.99% and launched a new 3 Year Fixed Rate Mortgage from only 4.29%. Both these products, available up to 95% LTV, have discounted fees and a free valuation thereby providing security at an affordable rate."      

For more information, visit leedsbuildingsociety.co.uk