Nationwide becomes latest lender to up its mortgage loan age limit
In yet another sign millennials are drawing on the bank of mum and dad (or perhaps, grandma and grandad), Nationwide raised its mortgage borrowing age limit from 75 to 85.
It means a 60-year old who is able to afford the repayments can take out a 25-year mortgage, Nationwide said. The loan limit is £150,000 and it can be no greater than 60 per cent of the property value.
This will remove a barrier to wealthy parents and grandparents taking out a mortgage with their offspring, many of whom are locked out of the property market due to soaring prices.
The move also trumps that of Halifax which recently raised its age limit by five years to 80, citing changing demographics and working habits.
"Access to the mainstream market has been a challenge for older customers, resulting in their needs going unfulfilled. This measure helps to address these needs in a prudent, controlled manner," Nationwide head of mortgages, Henry Jordan. said.
Tom McPhail, head of pensions research at Hargreaves Lansdown, told BBC 5 Live that it could change fundamentally change mortgage borrowing.
"Why pay off the mortgage at at all?" he said.
"As long as the value of the property is there to meet the liability in the future, why worry about paying it off when you are alive?"