"When our brokers began requesting that friends be able to act as income boosters, we took note."
- Will Rice, CEO of Gen H
Gen H will now accept nieces, nephews and friends as income boosters across its joint borrower sole proprietor product range.
Friends can act as income boosters on mortgages up to and including 80% LTV and family, now including nieces and nephews, can act as income boosters on mortgages up to and including 95% LTV.
The full list of eligible family members now includes parents (including step-parents), children (including step-children), grandparents, siblings (including half-siblings and step-siblings), uncles and aunts (siblings of parents only), and nieces and nephews.
Gen H’s income booster includes a calculation which can remove the booster at age 85, meaning their age won’t limit the mortgage term. This flexibility enables borrowers with older boosters to still achieve the 30 or 40-year mortgage term they may need to afford the mortgage.
A review of Gen H’s recent cases found that 62.4% of owners with income boosters are under the age of 40, but a significant proportion (37.6%) are over 40, with 16.4% over 50.
In the five months following November 2023, 72.9% of income booster apps were from first-time buyers and 24.7% were remortgagers, representing a 50% uplift in remortgages with income boosters.
The lender’s announcement follows two consecutive weeks of rate reductions, where Gen H reduced homebuying bundle rates by up to 40bps and reduced five-year homebuying and standard rates by a further 15bps.
Will Rice, CEO of Gen H, said: “We’ve seen how many people our income booster product has been able to help. This is why, when our brokers began requesting that friends be able to act as income boosters, we took note. I’m delighted to introduce this change, especially in light of two consecutive rate reductions, because it means we’ll be able to support even more aspiring homeowners. This important development is thanks to the attention and advocacy of our broker partners.”
