Gen H will now accept nieces, nephews and friends as ‘income boosters’.

Friends can act as income boosters on mortgages up to and including 80% LTV.

Family, now including nieces and nephews, can act as income boosters on mortgages up to and including 95% LTV. The full list of eligible family members includes:

• parents (including step-parents),
• children (including step-children),
• grandparents,
• siblings (including half-siblings and step-siblings),
• uncles and aunts (siblings of parents only), and
• nieces and nephews.

Income boosters go on a mortgage with owners to boost what they can borrow – a structure commonly known as a joint borrower, sole proprietor (JBSP) mortgage. But unlike typical JBSP mortgages, Gen H’s income booster includes a calculation which can remove the booster at age 85, meaning the booster’s age won’t limit the mortgage term. This enables borrowers with older boosters to still achieve the 30 or 40-year mortgage term they may need to afford the mortgage.

A review of Gen H’s recent cases found that 62.4% of owners with income boosters are under the age of 40, but a significant proportion (37.6%) are over 40, with 16.4% over 50. Furthermore, in the five months following November 2023, 72.9% of income booster apps were from first-time buyers and 24.7% were remortgagers, representing a 50% uplift in remortgages with income boosters.

Will Rice, Gen H CEO, said: “We’ve seen how many people our income booster product has been able to help. This is why, when our brokers began requesting that friends be able to act as income boosters, we took note. I’m delighted to introduce this change, especially in light of two consecutive rate reductions, because it means we’ll be able to support even more aspiring homeowners.

“This important development is thanks to the attention and advocacy of our broker partners.”