Santander is launching into the NewBuy arena as from today.
Its 95% mortgage products will be available through brokers on the panels of just four builders – Barratt Homes, Berkeley, Bovis Homes and Persimmon.
All come with a free standard mortgage valuation plus £250 cashback, and products include three- and five-year fixes at 5.49% and a seven-year fix at 5.99% – the only fix longer than five years on the market for first-time buyers.
There is a £99 booking fee with all the products.
However, there remains a bit question mark as to how the NewBuy scheme is faring. Barratt last week said that 1,600 potential purchasers were registering their interest each week, but said that only 70 of its homes have so far been reserved using the NewBuy scheme.
Santander’s launch into NewBuy also follows hot on the heels of its decision to tighten up the criteria for buyers of new homes outside the scheme.
Until last Friday, it required a 20% from first-time buyers purchasing a new-build flat. This has now been raised to 25%. For first-time buyers looking to buy a new-build house, the previous deposit requirement of 10% has been raised to 15%.
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