Residential mortgage lender Gen H has today announced its expansion to Scotland, bringing its innovative affordability solutions to aspiring homeowners north of the border. This includes its market-leading income booster proposition, which helps buyers qualify for larger loans relative to their income.
In Scotland, most first-time buyers face affordability constraints that threaten to lock them out of homeownership. Recent analysis from Bank of Scotland shows first-time buyers in Scotland now pay a typical purchase price of £194,000, while average income stands at £30,504. This means the average person would need to borrow more than 6.4x their income – outside the lending appetite of most mortgage lenders. This is more extreme in areas like Edinburgh, where the average house price is 7.5x the average income.
This gap appears set to increase. While the gross weekly earnings for full-time employees in Scotland has increased from c. £400 in 2005 to £739.70 in 2024, when adjusted for inflation, real pay in Scotland has remained flat. At the same time, house prices have continued to increase at a much higher rate – especially in the new build space, which has seen house price growth of 51% in the last decade.
As a result, many households are forced to rely on informal family support to get on the ladder – but until now, there have been few structured options to turn this support into practical buying power.
Gen H’s income booster product tackles these challenges head-on:
- Income boosters are family or friends who join a mortgage application as non-resident co-borrowers.
- Income boosters are liable for the mortgage, but they are not guarantors, so there’s no collateral on the line.
- Income boosters don’t have to pay any money as long as the mortgage is in good standing – 92% of Gen H’s boosters never contribute a penny.
- First-time buyers who add an income booster buy, on average, 5 years earlier than those who don’t.
This innovation will make it possible for Scottish buyers locked out by affordability constraints to access homeownership where they couldn’t before.
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Sara Palmer, Sales and Distribution Director, at Gen H, said:
“We hear a lot about the housing crisis in England, but we know that affordability is one of the most pressing challenges facing aspiring homeowners in Scotland, too. So many people who could afford the monthly payments – and who often pay as much or more in rent – are blocked from buying because of the limitations of traditional income assessments. As we bring our income booster proposition to the Scottish market, I believe we’re opening the door to a homebuying landscape where support from friends and family can be made safe and fair, and where homeownership is no longer out of reach for hardworking households.”
Gen H’s launch into Scotland underscores its mission to redesign homebuying for the better. Since its founding in 2019, the lender has focused on flexible criteria, customer-first service, and innovative product design that helps more people achieve their homeownership goals.
