West One has announced the expansion of their residential and buy-to-let mortgage products into Northern Ireland.
The launch into a new territory is designed to provide greater access to specialist mortgage products for non-standard borrowers in a jurisdiction that has been historically underserved by specialist mortgages.
Residential mortgages are available up to 90% LTV with LTIs of up to 5.5 times income as standard. Maximum loan sizes in Northern Ireland are capped at £1.5m. LTI Boost products with no loan-to-income cap are also available (for households earning over £50,000 and where affordability is evidenced).
These residential products cater for a variety of credit profiles – allowing various instances of credit blips. For Northern Ireland, Core product rates start from 6.34% for 2-year fixed terms, 6.23% for 5-year fixed terms, while the lowest fixed rates available are on 2-year fixed term mortgages in the LTI Boost range (with uncapped LTI), starting from 5.64%. Variable rate mortgages are available from 5.60% (BBR + 1.85%) on the 2-year Discounted Tracker product with ERCs only applicable in the first year.
Buy-to-let mortgages will be available up to 75% LTV with a maximum loan size of £2m. West One’s Bespoke BTL offering, largely built for the needs of the portfolio landlord, will also be available on a referral basis for larger loan sizes, portfolios up to £15m, and higher complexity cases.
Marie Grundy, Managing Director of Mortgages at West One, said, “Northern Ireland presents an amazing growth opportunity for West One, allowing us to serve more brokers and borrowers with a range of specialist mortgage products that could help underserved clients obtain a mortgage deal. Our entry into the market also puts us among a very small group of specialist lenders offering mortgage products across the whole of the UK.”
Paul Huxter, West One’s Head of Intermediary Sales & Distribution, added, “The buy-to-let market in Northern Ireland is unique in the sense that undersupply of rental properties dominates the discussion. Yet many would-be landlords who don’t qualify for a high street mortgage have very limited options and face tough barriers to entry as a result. From minor credit issues and consumer buy-to-let (CBTL) cases to portfolio growth, limited company lending and non-standard property types, we have the specialist expertise to consider cases that high street lenders won’t accommodate.”
