- The Bank of England has loosened its mortgage lending rules, allowing a greater proportion of new mortgages to exceed 4.5 times a borrower's income.
- This adjustment will increase the share of such high loan-to-income mortgages from under 10 per cent to 15 per cent across the industry.
- It is estimated that this change could facilitate an additional 36,000 mortgages with higher loan-to-income ratios being issued annually.
- The move is intended to help first-time buyers access the property ladder, particularly those struggling with high rents and living costs.
- This follows other recent measures to ease borrowing, including relaxed stress test rules and the reintroduction of 100 per cent mortgages by some lenders.
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