Previously the income multiple sat at a maximum of 4.5 times the applicant’s income.

The society is not limiting its maximum income multiples to professionals due to its its manual underwriting approach, so underwriters can take a view on the applicant’s ability to maintain their income levels in the future.

The change comes as part of wider improvements to the society’s affordability assessments, including the ability to exclude non-dependants in the household for the purposes of affordability and allowing the use of 100% of BTL rental profits.

Richard Norrington, chief executive of Ipswich Building Society, said: “We’re really pleased to get 2021 off to a positive start by enhancing our income multiples for high earners.

“We feel this is an important step given the recent upwards movements in house prices and predictions of further growth this year.

“Whilst it’s likely that many higher multiple applicants will be professionals, it’s important to us to be inclusive and that’s why we’ve taken the step to allow anyone with a higher income to apply, so that we don’t exclude individuals who have made a financial success of their career in other fields or industries.”