"It’s been great to see the growing popularity of our ‘Income Booster’ product."
- Jen Lloyd, Head of Mortgage Products & Proposition at Skipton
In 2023, Skipton Building Society (Skipton) renamed its ‘Joint Borrow Sole Proprietor’ scheme to ‘Income Booster’ after finding that 60% of aspiring first-time buyers worry that their lack of understanding is delaying them getting onto the property ladder. Notably, 52% said they’re missing out on better deals due to a lack of understanding when it comes to the different types of mortgages available.
Skipton highlighted that 77% of first-time buyers felt more stressed with the process because of confusing terms, with 70% wishing everyone would speak in plain English. Since renaming to ‘Income Booster’, Skipton has received over £274mn in new applications to date – this is 37% more applications since 2022.
“It’s been great to see the growing popularity of our ‘Income Booster’ product. The intention behind the name change was to help increase awareness and accessibility amongst first-time buyers when it comes to the different solutions available to them, by cutting through the jargon and using plain English,” said Jen Lloyd, Head of Mortgage Products & Proposition at Skipton.
She said: “It was worrying to see in our initial research that over half of first-time buyers are unsure of the products available meaning they could be missing out on one that’s a perfect fit for their situation. I hope that through this change, we’ve encouraged more buyers to research their options and find the product that could potentially help them to step onto the property ladder sooner rather than later.”
Gen H also has an income booster product. Since November 2023, 72.9% of their applications were from first-time buyers while 24.7% came from remortgages – this shows a 50% uplift in remortgage cases with income boosters over the last 5 months.
While 62.4% of Gen H’s income booster customers are aged 40 or under, over a third (37.6%) are over 40, with 16.4% aged 50 or above. Skipton suggests this demonstrates that customers not only understand the income booster product but also that it can be adapted to suit all kinds of buyers at any stage of homeownership.
“When we launched the income booster in 2020, it was envisioned as a product designed to support first-time buyers as there was a clear need for this type of product in the market. Since then, we’ve seen the income booster benefit thousands of people - first-time buyers and remortgagers alike – showing that demand for smarter mortgages spans every stage of homeownership,” explained Will Rice, CEO of Gen H.
