Kensington Mortgages has raised the maximum loan limits for first-time buyers and buy-to-let mortgages.

The specialist lender has increased the maximum loan on buy-to-let mortgages to £1.5 million from £1 million. First-time buyers will benefit from an increase as well, with loan value increasing to a maximum of £1 million, up from the previous limit of £500,000.

Kensington assesses a range of income sources from self-employed earnings to bonus income and even vested shares. Affordability will be based on the latest year’s salary for self-employed and contract workers, while applicants with a strong credit profile will have up to 100% of their earned income assessed.

Steve Griffiths (pictured), head of sales and distribution at Kensington, said: “Whether it is for residential or buy-to-let, larger loans of more than £500,000 are rarely straightforward and often require individual assessment by an experienced underwriter. This approach is central to the way we approach every application we receive, and so it’s great news that we have been able to extend our criteria to larger loans for first-time buyers and buy-to-let landlords.

“Many first-time buyers looking to borrow more than £500,000 will look to include bonus or self-employed income within their affordability and we have the expertise to properly assess all of an applicant’s income, whether it comes from self-employment, bonus payments or investments.

“These are exciting developments at Kensington and there is plenty more to come. We will continue to identify straight forward solutions to complex mortgage applications, and introduce more developments to our products and proposition throughout the year.”