Nationwide has announced it is going to offer first-time buyers (FTBs) the ability to borrow six times income when taking a five- or 10-year fixed rate up to 95% loan-to-value (LTV).

The extended Helping Hand mortgage will give potential homeowners a 33% uplift compared to Nationwide’s standard lending at 4.5 times income.

Nationwide will also lower rates for FTBs by up to 0.31%, making the society the first major lender to offer a sub-5% rate on its standard range to those with a 5% deposit.

Reductions have been made across its two-, three-, five- and 10-year fixed rate mortgages up to 95% LTV.

These include:

• Five-year fixed rate at 95% LTV with a £999 fee is 4.99% (reduced by 0.05%) • 10-year fixed rate at 75% LTV with no fee is 4.69% (reduced by 0.31%) • Five-year fixed rate at 90% LTV with a £999 fee is 4.49% (reduced by 0.10%) • Five-year fixed rate at 85% LTV with a £999 fee is 4.19% (reduced by 0.15%)

In addition, Nationwide is increasing its maximum loan sizes, including those above 90% LTV, which will increase from £500,000 to £750,000.

The maximum loan size for two and five-year fixed rates and two-year tracker rates will be increasing at selected LTV bands.

These include:

• Between 75% and 85%, increased from £1.5m to £2m. • Between 85% and 90%, increased from £750,000 to £1m. • Between 90% and 95%, increased from £500,000 to £750,000.

Nationwide chief executive Debbie Crosbie says: “Helping Hand has supported around 40,000 people onto the property ladder since we launched it three years ago. We want to do more and are boosting the scheme to six times income and increasing the maximum loan size.”