YBS expands Homebuy offering with 5 year fixed rate mortgage

Applications for Yorkshire Building Society’s Open Market Homebuy (OMHB) mortgage have proven to be brisk since the launch of the scheme at the beginning of October 2006 – highlighting the need for an innovative solution to help eligible borrowers to get on to the housing market ladder.

The current OMHB mortgage offering is based around a tracker facility that follows the Bank of England base rate. Feedback from Homebuy Agents, independent advisors and a number of market commentators since the launch has highlighted the additional need for a fixed rate option. This will meet the needs of those who require the certainty of knowing that their monthly payment commitments will not rise over a reasonably long period.

The two recent base rate increases have heightened this demand and the Society is today launching a fixed rate OMHB product at a rate of 6.19% for the first five years, after which it will revert in year 6 to the Society’s standard variable rate of 6.90%. The current tracker product will continue as before except that the 6.5% interest cap for the first two years will not be provided as it is no longer necessary with the fixed rate option.

Andy Caton, Corporate Development Director at the Society commented, “We believe that the OMHB scheme is an innovative and worthwhile route for new homeowners to buy the house that they want to live in, in the area that they want to live. We have been delighted with the level of take up of the scheme via YBS in its early days and want to respond positively to the needs of customers as the market develops. We believe that by offering easy too understand, competitively priced products, both fixed and variable rate, the Society is providing good customer choice for everyone able to participate in the OMHB scheme.”