"It’s important to us, as a mutual, to be able help first-time buyers take their first steps into home-ownership."
First Homes are a new form of affordable housing and the scheme aims to help first-time buyers onto the property ladder, with a minimum 30% discount on market price on certain new builds. Prices for properties must not exceed than £250,000 outside of London, or £420,000 in Greater London. The discount is also passed on with any future sale of the property to first-time buyers.
The Society is offering a two-year discount mortgage with an initial rate of 2.39% (a discount of 2.85% from the Society’s SVR) and this is available with up to 95% LTV of the discounted purchase price.
The product also features a green incentive with a £250 cashback available for properties that are EPC rated A or B and provide the EPC certificate no later than three months after completion.
Chorley Building Society was one of the first initial lenders supporting the First Homes Scheme.
Kim Roby, customer services director at Chorley Building Society, commented: “We are very pleased to be among the first providers in the UK to support the new government backed scheme. It’s important to us, as a mutual, to be able help first-time buyers take their first steps into home-ownership. The scheme prioritises key workers and we are very proud to be able to offer this to some of our most hard-working and dedicated members of the community.”
Head of lending, Liz Pearson, added: “The First Homes initiative is the third Government backed scheme that the Society now offers. Our Help to Buy and shared ownership mortgages have proved popular and we’re very pleased to be able to support the Government’s scheme, which is part of their commitment to deliver 1 million homes by 2024.”
