Leeds Building Society expands Help to Buy range

The firm will launch a two-year fixed rate mortgage at 2.04 per cent and a five-year fix at 2.34 per cent.

Both are available at up to 75 per cent loan to value (LTV) and come with a free standard valuation of up to £999, the lender said.

Leeds’ Help to Buy range is sold exclusively through intermediaries for both property purchases and remortgages, with a £500,000 maximum loan for remortgages.

They also offer tapered early repayment charges and up to 10 per cent penalty-free capital overpayment each year.

Jaedon Green, Leeds’ director of product and distribution, said: “We’re constantly refining and improving our Help to Buy offering in response to borrower and broker feedback and have worked hard to make our proposition as simple and straightforward as we can.”

Help to Buy was launched by the government in 2013, offering first-time buyers the chance to benefit from help with their home purchase

There are different types of schemes available, including an Isa, a shared ownership scheme and an equity loan scheme.

Another scheme, the Help to Buy mortgage guarantee scheme, closed at the end of 2016, after the chancellor said the scheme’s purpose had been achieved.

Under the equity loan scheme the government lends up to 20 per cent (40 per cent in London) of the cost of a newly built home.

The loan is interest free for the first five years, after which buyers are charged a fee calculated at 1.75 per cent of the equity loan plus 1 per cent.

Mr Green said he expected to see growing demand for remortgages as the scheme’s initial purchasers reach the end of their current deals.

He said “As it reaches its fifth anniversary this year, the scheme’s first buyers will have to start paying interest on the government equity loan taken out in 2013.

“This is likely to focus minds on remortgage options, including whether to buy out the government’s stake from your home, whether wholly or in part.”

carmen.reichman@ft.com